US air strike on Islamic State convoy killed leader’s key aide

A key aide to the leader of Islamic State (Isis) has been killed in a US strike on a convoy near the Iraqi city of Mosul that destroyed 10 vehicles carrying a number of the group’s top militants, the Guardian reported.

Abdul Rahman al-Athaee, also known as Abu Saja, died in the attack on Friday. A key aide to the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, he travelled frequently with the group’s leadership.

Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman at US central command, said on Saturday: “I can confirm that coalition aircraft did conduct a series of air strikes yesterday evening in Iraq against what was assessed to be a gathering of Isil [Isis] leaders near Mosul. We cannot confirm if Isil leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present.”

Iraqi officials were also unable to confirm whether Baghdadi was among the 50 casualties. Isis did not immediately issue any statement on the strikes.

The news came as Britain’s chief of the defence staff, General Sir Nick Houghton, said on Sunday that the Isis leadership would regenerate itself even if Baghdadi had been killed. In a sign that the UK believed there was a strong chance Baghdadi died in the air strikes, Houghton spoke of “potential death” as he said it would take some days for the US to confirm whether the Isis leader was alive or not.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, the general said: “I can’t absolutely confirm that al-Baghdadi has died. Even the Americans themselves are not yet in a position to do that. Probably it will take some days to have absolute confirmation.”

But Houghton said Isis would fight back if its leader had been killed.