According to Russia Today, the ISIL confirmed that Abu Ali al-Anbari, the main advisor of al-Baghdadi, was killed, without revealing more details.
Al-Anbari, nom de guerre Haji Iman, Abu Ala al-Afri and Abu Ala Qardash, was known as ISIL's No 2 man after Al-Baghdadi.
The Iraqi interior ministry had announced in a statement in December that al-Anbari was killed along with 14 other militants in an airstrike by the Iraqi army.
The ministry said that an Iraqi airstrike hit a major ISIL headquarters in al-Ash sub-district near the Northeastern Syrian border.
“Iraqi security forces have been pursuing the movements of the senior terrorists of ISIL. The air force bombed this evening the group’s headquarters near al-Jazeera (Hasakah) province in Northeastern Syria, killing more than 15 militants, among them was the main advisor of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Abu Ali al-Anbari,” the statement said at the time; FNA reported.
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