Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi: Islamic State leader who blew himself up along with family during US raid
Born as Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi, he played a key role in the Yazidi genocide and spent time in a US-run prison
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of the Islamic State group. President Joe Biden said that al-Qurayshi has been killed in Syria during an operation by an elite US military force. AP
The United States president Joe Biden said on Thursday a “horrible terrorist leader” had been “taken off the battlefield” after military forces, on his direction, had killed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, leader of the Islamic State militant group, in Syria overnight.
“Thanks to the bravery of our troops this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.
“Last night operating on my orders, United States military forces successfully removed a major terrorist threat to the world,” Biden said.
As America hails the removal of this IS terrorist, let’s take a look at the 46-year-old jihadist
and his climb to the top of the terror organisation in 2019 after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Who was Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi?
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was born as Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi in the northern Iraqi district of Mahalabiya in October 1976.
When he became Islamic State’s leader in 2019, he changed his name to Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi; the “al-Qurayshi” in the name is the adjective that indicates the caliph’s descendance from the Quraysh tribe of Prophet Muhammad.
Known to be low-profile, virtually nothing much is known about him. A New Lines Magazine report in 2019 stated he was a leading figure among Iraqi jihadist groups for over two decades and had fought against the US in the past.
A Guardian report states that he played a lead role in the genocide of the Yazidis, which led to the killing of thousands of men and the enslavement of women and girls.
The report further said that he was deeply involved in the overthrow of Mosul in mid-2014 and he was behind the mass killings of Shia civilians and members of the security forces.
The Guardian report also stated that Qurayshi served in Saddam Hussein’s military, where he became an officer and by definition a member of the Ba’ath party.
He is known to have come in contact with Islamic State’s previous leader — Abu Bakr al Baghdadi — during a spell in the US prison Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
Another report states that al-Qurayshi graduated in 2000 from the University of Mosul with honours, majoring in Quranic studies and Islamic education.
He was known to hold more extremist views than his predecessor.
When he was named as the leader of the Islamic State, the US put a bounty of up to $10 million on his head.
Interestingly, there are reports that the now dead leader of the terror outfit served as an informant of the US while he was in captivity under the US military.
The Washington Post and Business Insider both report that the IS leader provided information about other terrorists to the US military during his incarceration in 2008. It is said that he provided names of at least 88 people affiliated to the Islamic State.
These reports also said that the interrogators called al-Qurayshi ‘cooperative and forthcoming’. They also noted that he only provided information on rivals and foreign-born terrorists.
Raid that led to al-Qurayshi’s death
As per reports, al-Qurayshi blew himself up along with members of his family as American forces raided his Syria hideout situated in the area of Atmeh.
According to official reports, about 50 US special operations forces landed in helicopters and attacked a house in a rebel-held corner of Syria, clashing for two hours with gunmen.
People inspect a destroyed house following an operation by the US military in the Syrian village of Atmeh, in Idlib province, Syria. AP
But before they could reach him, he detonated a suicide bomb, triggering a large explosion that blew mangled bodies — including his own — out of the building into the streets outside.
An Associated Press report stated that first responders reported that 13 people had been killed, including six children and four women.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said US forces were able to evacuate 10 people from the building: a man, a woman and four children from the first floor and four children from the second floor.
There were no US casualties, Kirby said. US forces took fingerprints and DNA, which confirmed al-Qurayshi’s death, he said.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and members of the President’s national security team observe from the Situation Room at the White House in Washington, the counterterrorism operation responsible for removing from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of the Islamic State group. AP
Biden, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and senior national security aides monitored a live-feed of the operation from the White House Situation Room according to an official.
What next for Islamic State
The operation against al-Qurayshi arrives at a precarious time for the Islamic State group, as per The Conversation report, adding that the fact that the Islamic State group couldn’t protect its top leader shows the continued pressure the group faces from US and allied forces.
However, terrorism experts don’t agree on how effective killing top leaders is. Some have argued that taking out a terrorist leader constrains the operational capacity of groups and disrupts their organisational routines, making it harder for them to carry out attacks.
With inputs from agencies
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