This Article is From Jul 08, 2015

Suspected US Drone Kills Islamic State Figure in Syria: Report

Suspected US Drone Kills Islamic State Figure in Syria: Report

File Photo: Members of the Islamic State militant group. (Associated Press)

BEIRUT: A drone strike as part of a US led campaign against Islamic State militants killed a senior figure from the hardline group in its Syrian stronghold Raqqa city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said today.

The strike killed an Uzbek leader of the group involved in security as he sat in a car outside a downtown hotel, the Observatory said.

Islamic State has attracted foreign fighters from across the world to fight in its self-declared caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq. It has named Raqqa its defacto capital.

The United States says it has intensified an aerial campaign against Islamic State in Syria with a wave of strikes in and around Raqqa city.

US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Monday heavy bombardment during the weekend that also included destroying bridges over waterways in the city, which is bordered to the south by the Euphrates river, aimed at further eroding the militants' capabilities.
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