Hudhayfah Al-Badri, son of Islamic State (IS) militant group leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, was killed during an attack by the jihadists in the central Syrian province of Homs, the IS propaganda agency Amaq announced Tuesday, as reported by AFP.
Al-Badri was killed in an “operation against the Nussayriyyah and the Russians at the thermal power station in Homs,” the group said in a statement alongside a photo of the fighter holding an assault rifle.
Nussayriyyah is the term used by IS for the Alawite religious minority sect of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
IS, which took over large parts of Iraq and Syria during 2014, has carried out several high-profile killings of western hostages, as well as mass executions, beheadings, and crucifixions of mainly male captives.
The jihadists have since lost much ground to separate counteroffensives by Syrian and Iraqi forces, as well as US-led operations, and the jihadist presence is now confined to a few holdouts.
IS is estimated to control no more than 3% of Syria’s territory.
Last December, the Iraqi government declared victory over IS, but the military has continued regular operations targeting mostly desert areas along the porous Syrian border.
Originally from Iraq, Al-Baghdadi has been dubbed the “most wanted man on the planet” and the United States is offering a $25m as a reward for his capture.
Al-Baghdadi, born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali Muhammed al-Badri, rose to international notoriety as he was one of the many militants who, in response to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, formed a militant group to join a growing insurgency against occupation.
In 2004, Al-Baghdadi was detained by the US forces and was held in both the controversial Abu Ghraib prison and Camp Bucca detention facility. He reportedly spent more time in Abu Ghraib, an infamous prison known for torture acts committed by the American forces in Iraq.
