ISIS second-in-command has been killed in a US air strike in northern Iraq.

The National Security Council identified the slain militant as Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, also known as Haji Mutaz, and said he was IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s senior deputy. US forces say they were able to kill him, along with an IS “media operative” known as Abu Abdullah on August 18 in a strike on a vehicle near the city of Mosul. The White House described Al-Hayali as a member of the Islamic State’s ruling council, and a primary coordinator for moving large amounts of weapons, explosives, vehicles and people between Iraq and Syria. Like many senior Iraqi jihadists, before joining the IS group, Al-Hayali had been a member of Al-Qaeda’s Iraqi faction.