The Islamic State group says its leader was killed by militants in Syria and names his successor

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group has announced the death of its little-known leader, Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, who headed the extremist organization since November. A new leader was named to replace him. Thursday’s announcement did not say when al-Qurayshi was killed. He was the fourth IS leader to be killed since the group was founded by Iraqi militant Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and declared a caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq in June 2014 before its defeat years later. An IS spokesman said in an audio message that al-Qurayshi “was martyred” in rebel-held northwestern Syria by members of Syria’s al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the province of Idlib.