Mosul (Iraq), Dec 18 (IANS/EFE): A senior leader of the Islamic State (IS) Sunni radical group has been killed in airstrikes carried out by the US-led international coalition in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a Kurdish source told Efe news agency Thursday.
The head of the Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Mosul, Esmat Rajab, said that the deceased, identified as Abu Saad al-Lahini, was in charge of IS general security in the city.
The radical leader was killed while driving his car in the al-Muthanna neighbourhood of Mosul.
Rajab said the airstrikes began Wednesday morning and continued until the early hours of Thursday.
IS fighters have been rapidly advancing in northern Iraq since June, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Coalition aircraft are backing the Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga troops in their fight against the jihadis.