A senior ISIS leader was killed in a United States airstrike, the Pentagon said. Abu Wahib was killed along with three other militants in the May 6 attack.
The ISIS leader had started working for al-Qaeda in 2009, and broke out of an Iraqi prison in 2012.
“ISIL leadership has been hit hard by coalition efforts and this is another example of that,” said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook. “It is dangerous to be an ISL leader in Iraq and Syria nowadays.”
Wahib also appeared in a series of ISIS execution videos, according to Cook.
In one video, Wahib quizzes three cab drivers to find out if they’re Sunni Muslims as they claim, or Shia Alawites, as he suspects they are.
After the three fail Wahib’s “Quranic quiz,” they’re executed with a machine gun, the Telegraph reports.
Wahib had such a high-profile that the Iraqi government had previously issued several statements that he had been killed as far back as 2014. There had also been a $50,000 bounty on his head.
The United States expanded the presence of troops in Iraq last month, deploying an additional 200 soldiers, largely as advisors for the Iraqi army advancing on ISIS-held Mosul.
On May 3, a U.S. Navy SEAL was killed while fighting ISIS militants in northern Iraq.
Wahib had gained fame online after a picture of him in a camouflage uniform was placed next to that of a donor kebab, which he resembled due to his clothing.
Kebab lookalike #ISIS maniac Abu Wahib finally gets it https://t.co/PL29d6qSC0 pic.twitter.com/6UmwKiq5B0
— The Knife (@alkanomega) May 10, 2016
