A man thought to be ISIS' most senior military commander has been confirmed dead, after being injured in a US air strike last week in Syria, the Pentagon confirmed yesterday.
Abu Omar al-Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, was wounded in a targeted attack near the town of al-Shadadi, Syria on March 4. He was not immediately killed, but was moved to Islamic State's base of operations in Raqqa for treatment having been wounded, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR)
"We believe he subsequently died of his injuries," Navy Capt Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, told AFP.
The SOHR announced Shishani had been "clinically dead" for several days, on Sunday, and had been kept alive by machines.
Shishani was one of the most wanted ISIS leaders by Washington, who had put a $5 million bounty on his head. Although his exact rank was unknown, Richard Barret, of the US-based Soufan group, described him as ISIS' "most senior military commander."
Originally from Pankisi Gorge, a Chechen region of the former Soviet state of Georgia, Shishani was appointed ISIS' military commander for Northern Syria as early as May 2013, just as the group was emerging in Syria.
