A man considered to be the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) second-in-command was killed by U.S. forces earlier this week, the Pentagon announced Friday.

An operation this week killed Haji Imam, a senior religious leader who was considered to be in line to succeed ISIS leader Omar al-Baghdadi. He was also the group's finance minister and responsible for external affairs, according to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.

“We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s cabinet,” Carter said, using a different acronym for the group. “Removing this ISIL leader will hamper the organization’s ability to conduct operations both inside and outside Syria and Iraq.”
“The momentum of this campaign is now clearly on our side,” Carter added.

Carter declined to provide any more details on the operation that killed Imam.

“Any more details than that could put lives and future operations at risk,” he said.

His death is the second high-profile ISIS casualty this month. A U.S. airstrike at the beginning of March targeted ISIS’ defense minister, Georgian-born Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili. He was also known as "Omar the Chechen.”

The announcement comes at a time of growing anxiety about ISIS, which claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Brussels this week that killed at least 31 people, including at least two Americans.


http://thehill.com/policy/defense/274287-report-us-kills-isis-second-in-command

ValerianSteel:
The past two months as shown us how US has been successfully taking out the so-called islamic state hierarchy one after the other.Very commedable.Shows that Obama is true to his words 'Containing ISIS'.

Hopefully Pentagon rains down more fire on them in their thousands.