ISIS' chief strategist and one of its longest serving leaders has been killed in Syria, the group's news agency has reported.
Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, whose calls for attacks against the West during Ramadan led to mass killings, died in Aleppo, Amaq said on Tuesday.
The ISIS-controlled site said he was "martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo".
Details about how he died were not given but the Pentagon said an air strike had targeted Adnani and the results were being assessed. Spokesman Peter Cook described the terrorist as a "principal architect of Isil's external operations".
He had "co-ordinated the movement of Isil fighters, directly encouraged lone-wolf attacks on civilians and members of the military and actively recruited" new members, said Cook.
The death is a major blow for the militant group as they continue to suffer losses in Iraq and Syria. As one of the group's founding members he was presented as their official spokesman and has issued a number of calls for individual attacks on the West.
Most recently he urged strikes during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and ISIS-inspired attacks were carried out including a nightclub shooting in Orlando, a truck attack in Nice and a mass suicide bombing in Baghdad.
Few of the original leadership remain and the group's territories continue to diminish under attacks from Russian and Western backed forces. Some have suggested the 40-year-old was lined up as a successor to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
