BAGHDAD, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi declared on Tuesday that a senior leader of the Islamic State (IS) group was killed near the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Abu Hassan al-Ghreibawi, the group leader in southern Iraq, and Ghanim Sabah, responsible for the movement of IS operatives, were killed, al-Kadhimi, who is also commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in a tweet.
Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the commander-in-chief, said in a statement that the U.S.-led coalition aircraft conducted an airstrike, based on Iraqi intelligence reports, on an IS hideout in Abu Ghraib area, some 20 km west of Baghdad.
Al-Ghreibawi was involved in supervising the Jan. 21 twin suicide bomb attacks in downtown Baghdad, and Sabah was responsible for transporting the suicide bombers who blew themselves up, Rasoul said, adding that two more IS militants were also killed in the airstrike.
On Jan. 28, al-Kadhimi declared that Abu Yasir al-Eisawi, deputy IS leader and leader of IS militants in Iraq, was killed by Iraqi forces in operation in the south of Iraq's northern city of Mosul.
Iraqi forces intensified efforts to confront the recent increase of IS deadly attacks, including the twin suicide bombings on Jan. 21 that killed 32 and wounded more than 100 others in Baghdad, as well as the attack on Hashd Shaabi outpost in Salahudin on Jan. 23 that killed 11 paramilitary members and wounded 12 others.
The security situation has relatively improved in Iraq since the Iraqi security forces fully defeated IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, sporadic deadly incidents still occur in the war-ravaged country as IS remnants have since melted into urban areas or deserts, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. Enditem
