Senior ISIS leader involved in killing of former US Army Ranger ‘killed in drone strike’

A senior ISIS leader involved in the murder of former U.S. Army Ranger Peter Kassig has been killed in a drone strike on Sunday.

Abu al Umarayn, along with ‘several other ISIS members’, were killed in precision drone strikes in Syria’s Badiyah Desert, U.S.-led coalition spokesperson Colonel Sean Ryan said in a statement, according to Fox News. 

The statement said that ‘Al Umarayn had given indications of posing an imminent threat to Coalition Forces and he was involved in the killing of American Citizen and former U.S. Army Ranger, Peter Kassig.

‘He has been linked to and directly involved with executing several other prisoners as a senior ISIS member.

 ‘Coalition airstrikes continue to disrupt ISIS command and control on the battlefield as we remove key figures from their ranks.’

Kassig, a 26-year-old aid worker and U.S. citizen, was captured in Syria in October 2013. 

Senior ISIS leader Abu al Umarayn was killed in a drone strike on Sunday. He was involved in the killing of former U.S. Army Ranger Peter Kassig who was captured in Syria (pictured above)

He was working to provide aid to Syrians who were fleeing the country’s civil war and had formed the aid organization Special Emergency Response and Assistance, or SERA, in Turkey to provide aid and assistance to Syrian refugees.

He was said by his friends to have converted to Islam in captivity and took the first name Abdul-Rahman.

Kassig had begun delivering food and medical supplies to Syrian refugee camps in 2012 and was also a trained medical assistant who provided trauma care to injured Syrian civilians and helped train civilians to provide medical aid.

Prior to his aid work he’d enlisted in the Army in 2004, and became a Ranger, serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment, an Army special operations unit, according to his military record. 

Kassig, a 26-year-old aid worker, working in Syria was captured in October 2013. In 2014 graphic footage was released by ISIS showing he was beheaded

Kassig, a 26-year-old aid worker, working in Syria was captured in October 2013. In 2014 graphic footage was released by ISIS showing he was beheaded

After training at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 2006, he was deployed to Iraq from April to July 2007 and medically discharged at the rank of private first class in September 2007.      

In 2014, graphic footage was released by ISIS showing Kassig was beheaded in captivity.

U.S. officials at the time confirmed the footage was authentic. 

The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement  that Al Umarayn had given indications of posing an imminent threat to Coalition Forces and he was involved in the killing of Peter Kassig

The U.S.-led coalition said in a statement that Al Umarayn had given indications of posing an imminent threat to Coalition Forces and he was involved in the killing of Peter Kassig

 

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