Airstrikes have killed 10 ISIS leaders this month — including one in Syria with direct ties to the Paris attacks mastermind, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday.
Col. Steve Warren told reporters that Charaffe al Mouadan had a direct link toAbdelhamid Abaaoud and was actively planning attacks against the West before he was killed in a Dec. 24 coalition airstrike on Syria.
“We will hunt ISIL leaders working to inspire attacks against U.S. and our allies,” Warren said on his official Twitter account.
He said that nine other ISIS leaders were killed in airstrikes in December.
Al Mouadan was actively planning attacks against the west. We will hunt ISIL leaders working to inspire attacks against US and our allies.
— COL Steve Warren (@OIRSpox) December 29, 2015"As long as ISIL external attack planners are operating, the U.S. Military will hunt them and kill them." #DefeatingDaesh
— COL Steve Warren (@OIRSpox) December 29, 2015“We are striking at the head of the snake,” Warren told a press briefing. “We haven’t severed the head of the snake, and it’s still got fangs.”
Moroccan-born Abaaoud, 27, was killed in a police raid following the Nov. 13 Paris attacks. Officials have described him as the ringleader of the attacks, which left 130 dead, and believe Abaaoud was involved in four of six plots foiled by French intelligence since the spring. Among the other alleged leaders reportedly killed this month were the ISIS emir of Kirkuk Province in Iraq, an ISIS deputy financial emir, an ISIS commander and executioner and a forgery specialist who had links to the Paris attack network. This article first appeared on NBCNews.com.
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