Half of the ISIS leadership killed by airstrikes

The power of the Islamic State, which was expanding fast, is sharply shrinking. It is reported that the leadership of the group were killed by the coalition airstrikes that started in September last year.

The Daily Mail said on Monday that nine out of 18 inner circle of advisors of the IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (see photo) were decimated by airstrikes. The 18 people are the members of the Shura Committee, which elected Baghdadi as a “caliphate,” when the militant group was launched on June 30 last year.

Among the dead jihadists is Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, a former Iraqi army lieutenant colonel who was considered Baghdadi`s number two. He was the ISIS’s most senior militant in Iraq. Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi who had been the head of Baghdadi`s religion and strategy advisor was also killed by a coalition warplane last year. Another militant killed in an airstrike in September last year was Abu Hajar Al-Sufi, one of Baghdadi`s most trusted advisers.

Baghdadi has not been seen in public since July last year and there have been numerous unconfirmed reports that he suffered serious injury and even death as a result of targeted airstrikes.

The British newspaper said that as the Islamic State is an extremely closed organization in which Baghdadi gives instructions through his trusted advisors, the chain of command would collapse if half of his subordinates are killed. Other members are replacing the dead, but they will be less trustworthy than the original members who have built a strong bond through years of battles.

However, a few key figures targeted by the coalition are said to remain alive. The top target is Jihadi John who beheaded Kenji Goto, a Japanese journalist. Jihadi John is not a member of the 18-member council, but he has been notorious for beheading British and American hostages since last year. The U.S. offered a prize money of 10 million U.S. dollars and the U.K. sent a special troops only to fail to catch him. Other well-known militants still alive and operational include Abu Wahib, the terror in Iraq`s Anbar province and Abu Omar al-Shishani, who is understood to be responsible for ISIS` military operations within Syria. Both of them are only 28 years old.

The airstrikes reportedly killed the militant group’s leaders and some 6,000 jihadists for the past five months. Supply routes are being blocked. The group, which occupied inland areas, supplies goods through deserts and airstrikes destroyed around 1,000 vehicles. The terror group is said to be in a dilemma because sending heavily armed escort forces could cause airstrikes and moving in small groups could be exposed to the attacks of anti-ISIS groups.

People are turning their backs on the militant group as it continues to harm them. A few days ago, a 60-something man with an automatic rifle attacked an ISIS checkpoint in Tikrit, Iraq, to revenge for the death of his son who was executed by the terrorist group. He killed seven jihadists before he was shot dead. ISIS unveiled this video on the Internet last month after executing the old man’s 18-year-old son who was suspected for being a spy from the Iraqi government with seven other people.