ISIS leader killed in drone strike

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The U.S.-led coalition in Syria on Sunday targeted and killed an Islamic State (ISIS) leader responsible for the 2014 beheading of an American aid worker, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Monday. Abu al-Umarayn and several ISIS members were killed in precision drone strikes in a desert area in southeast Syria, according to U.S. Central Command.

Al-Umarayn was linked to the killings of several ISIS prisoners, including Peter Kassig, a U.S. Army Ranger who became an aid worker, said Col. Sean Ryan, a coalition spokesman. Insurgents captured Kassig on Oct. 1, 2013, while he was delivering medical supplies to Syrians brutalized by the war. The group released a video the following month showing that Kassig, 26, was beheaded.

Onize Oduah

Onize is WORLD’s Africa reporter and deputy global desk chief. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate and earned a journalism degree from Minnesota State University–Moorhead. Onize resides in Abuja, Nigeria.

@onize_ohiks