The Islamic State announces the death of its leader eight months after his appointment

The terrorist group Islamic State (IS) announced today the death of its leader, Abu al Hussein al Husseini al Qurashi, appointed in November 2022, and designated Abu Hafs al Hashimi al Qurashi as the new “caliph”, according to an audio released by the audiovisual production company Al Furqan, close to the jihadists.”We express the condolences of (…) the soldiers of the Islamic State for the death of the caliph of the believers, Abu al Hussein al Husseini al Qurashi,” said IS spokesman Abu Huzaifa al Ansari in the audio.Likewise, he announced that after Al Qurashi’s death the “advisors” of the Islamic State met and agreed to appoint “the jihadist sheikh Abu Hafs al Hashimi al Qurashi as commander of the believers and caliph of the Muslims.””He accepted the assignment and assumed power,” said the spokesperson.According to the spokesperson, The leader of the terrorist organization died “in a direct confrontation” with “Turkish Intelligence agents” in a village on the outskirts of Idlib, in northwestern Syria.Turkish Intelligence tried to “capture” him, but Al Qurashi “confronted them with his weapon until he died from his wounds,” according to the audio, which does not specify when the events occurred.No details, not even his face, have emerged about the late IS leader since his appointment in November 2022, while the true identity of his successor, who also uses a nickname, is also unknown.This is the fourth leader of the Islamic State since the death in 2019 of the first ‘caliph’ of IS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, in a US operation.On the other hand, the organization also indicated that its previous spokesperson, Abu Omar al Muhager, was “captured” by Turkish Intelligence.On April 30, the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in an interview that the Turkish secret services (MIT) had killed Al Qurashi after having followed him “for a long time”, but did not offer details about the operation.Since the death of Al Baghdadi, the leaders of the Islamic State have been nicknamed Al Qurashi, in reference to the tribe of Quraish (or Coraichitas, in Spanish), to which the prophet Muhammad belonged, and which the last two leaders have used to give legitimacy.With information from Efe.Post navigation