The so-called Islamic State (ISIS) has announced its leader has been killed in action.
Abu al-Hassan Al-Qurashi died and Abu al-Hussain al-Hussaini al-Qurashi has been declared the murderous group's new caliph, ISIS claims.
The announcement was made in a speech from ISIS spokesman Abu Umar al-Muhajir, however, the news contradicts reports of Abu al-Hasan's capture in Turkey.
Abu al-Hasan was caught in May during a raid at his hideout in Istanbul, according to a report by Turkish crime reporter Toygun Atilla. He claimed he was made a leader against his wishes.
Many believe Abu al-Hasan was just a nom de guerre and ISIS never formally identified the person behind the name.
The death also comes less than a year after he was named caliph in March.
Hassan Hassan, editor-in-chief of Newlines Magazine and co-author of the book "ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror"', urged caution about the news and says ISIS could have "easily" said "that person was killed and replaced with. 'Abu al-HussAIN al-Qurashi.' Who could tell?"
According to a VICE report, Abu al-Hasan is believed to be Juma al-Badri, the older brother of the first ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The spokesman said the leader was killed “in combat with enemies of God”, without elaborating on the date of his death or the circumstances.
Writing on Twitter Mr Hassan continued: "Important to note that this is quite possibly a fake announcement.
"Scenario 1 is that the ISIS leader was killed 'accidentally' during a raid or fighting without him being known to whoever killed him (the US, Iraqis, Kurds) so those did not know they killed the leader. That'd be unprecedented, but possible.
"Also, jihadist groups have a long history of claiming leaders/commanders dead, just to get intelligence/security agencies off their back."
The group no longer controls the vast swathes of territory it did in Syria and Iraq during its peak between 2014 and 2018, but they still remain a security threat throughout the region.
On Tuesday, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, General Mazloum Abdi, said that recent airstrikes by Turkey were making it difficult for his forces to maintain a high frequency of operations against ISIS.
This has raised concern that the threat could continue to grow.
“Our joint work alongside international coalition forces [including the US and UK] here have been…temporarily paused against ISIS because of the recent airstrikes,” the general said during a virtual press conference.
US Brigadier General Patrick Ryder echoed his remarks: “We have reduced the number of patrols because, again, we do these in partnering with the SDF, and so they have reduced the number of patrols that they’re doing…[which] therefore necessitates us to reduce the patrols."
