Russia claims it killed IS spokesman Adnani in Syria
Moscow disputes US claim that top terror group strategist and media campaigner was hit by American-led coalition forces

MOSCOW — Russia’s military on Wednesday said its airstrikes had killed top Islamic State group strategist Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, after Washington said coalition forces had targeted the jihadist propaganda chief.
In a statement, Russia’s defense ministry said a Russian Su-34 warplane on Tuesday killed “up to 40” IS fighters in a bombing raid near the village of Um Hosh in the province of Aleppo.
Russia has been flying its own bombing campaign in Syria in support of leader Bashar Assad since September, but this is the first time it has claimed to have killed a top-ranking IS leader.
“According to information confirmed through several intelligence channels, field commander Abu Mohamed al-Adnani was among those killed,” the statement said.
The IS-affiliated Amaq news agency announced propaganda chief Adnani’s death late on Tuesday, saying he “was martyred while surveying operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo” in northern Syria.
The United States said coalition forces had targeted Adnani, who had a $5 million bounty on his head, in an air strike in Aleppo province on Tuesday and that the Pentagon was still assessing the result.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook, using an alternative name for IS, said an air strike near Al-Bab had targeted Adnani, describing him as the “principal architect of ISIL’s external operations and… ISIL’s chief spokesman.”
A US defense official who declined to be named linked Adnani to attacks in Brussels, Istanbul and Paris, and said that if true, his death was “a very significant blow for ISIL.”
IS has suffered a series of setbacks this year including territorial losses in Syria and Iraq and the killings of other top figures.
Adnani, a Syrian born in 1977, was one of IS’s most recognized leaders, at the heart of a sophisticated propaganda and recruitment machine that produced slick videos and sustained a huge social media presence.