US-led coalition forces say they captured a senior leader of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) in an overnight raid in northern Syria. The man was “an experienced bomb maker and operational facilitator”, a coalition statement said.
Officials told US media that he was named Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi. A monitoring group said troops were dropped by two helicopters in al-Humayra, close to the Turkish border in opposition-held Aleppo province.
There were seven minutes of armed clashes between the troops and people inside the village before the helicopters flew off, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
They later landed at a base in the Kobane region in eastern Aleppo province, which is controlled by Turkish-backed rebel factions, it added.
A resident of al-Humayra, Mohammed Youssef, said the troops raided a house on the edge of the village where he believed displaced people from the city of Aleppo were staying.
“After the helicopters left, we went towards the house and found the women tied up and the children in the field,” he told AFP news agency. The coalition statement said the mission was “meticulously planned to minimize the risk of collateral damage or civilian harm”.
Credit: bbc.com
