Iraqi police today claimed that Abu Taluut, the ISIS governor for Mosul, was killed in a US airstrike in the village of Qayyara south of the city of Mosul, ISIS’ largest city.
The US hasn’t addressed the reported killing, nor has ISIS. Reports of people killed in US strikes against ISIS territory are often difficult to confirm, and sometimes “confirmed” killings reemerge unharmed.
Still, this would be significant, if it turns out to be real, and it is the second Mosul governor the US has said to have killed in a little over a month. The previous one was killed in a strike on his car inside Mosul.
ISIS’ leadership structure is not well understood, so while people may nominally be appointed “governors” or other positions, it isn’t clear how much authority they may actually have, or how big of a blow the death of one, or indeed two, would be to ISIS.
