Daesh confirms that 'minister for war' is dead

Abu Omar al-Shishani, regarded by the Pentagon as Daesh’s “minister of war”, was said to have died in a US air strike in Syria. The account was reportedly confirmed at the time both by high-level officials in Washington and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Wednesday the Daesh propaganda agency Amaq claimed Shishani had been killed in combat in the Iraqi city of Shirqat, south of Mosul.

Officials at the Pentagon said they were aware of Wednesday’s report but could not confirm or deny it, according to the Guardian.

Rami Abdelrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Shishani had been wounded in March and died soon after in the countryside east of Raqqa.

“I confirmed from the doctor who went to see him,” said Abdelrahman, who tracks the war in Syria through a network of contacts.

Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, was among America’s most wanted militants under a US programme.

Georgia-born Shishani once fought in military operations as a rebel in Chechnya before joining Georgia’s military in 2006 and fighting against Russian troops before being discharged two years later for medical reasons, the Guardian reports, citing US officials.

He was reportedly arrested in 2010 for weapons possession and spent more than a year in jail, before leaving Georgia in 2012 for Istanbul and later Syria.

He is said to have decided to join Daesh the following year.