US says ISIS leader killed in drone strike in Syria

US Central Command said it carried out a drone strike in northwest Syria yesterday that killed Maher al-Agal, the leader of ISIS in Syria.

Pentagon Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said Maher al-Agal was killed while riding a motorcycle near Jindayris in Syria, and one of his top aides was seriously injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that Agal was killed in a drone strike. 

The Syrian Civil Defense



Force said one person was killed and another injured in a strike that targeted a motorcycle outside Aleppo but did not identify the victims. There was little information available about Agal, whom the Observatory called the Islamic State governor for the Levant. 

The strike came five months after a night time US raid in the town of Atme in northern Syria led to the death of the overall Islamic State leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi.