Shishani

BAGHDAD — Abu Omar al-Shishani, who the Pentagon described as ISIS’s “minister of war”, was killed in combat in the Iraqi city of Shirqat, south of Mosul, a news agency that supports the militant group said on Wednesday.

The Pentagon said in March that Shishani had likely been killed in a U.S. air strike in Syria, but this was the first time the group appeared to confirm his death.

Reuters could not independently verify the statement from Amaq news agency, which ISIS regularly uses to issue reports and which denied Shishani’s death after the Pentagon’s comments in March.

ISIS supporters exchanged notes of praise and condolence on social media, including pictures of the ginger-bearded fighter, and pledged to launch a fresh offensive in his honor.

Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based security expert who advises the Iraqi government, said a source in Shirqat confirmed Shishani had been killed there along with several other militants.

But 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. He told Reuters ISIS likely delayed announcing his death to allow time to line up a successor.

Shishani, also known as Omar the Chechen, ranked among America’s most wanted militants under a U.S. program that offered up to $5 million for information to help remove him from the battlefield.