Islamic State leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi has been killed in battle, the extremist group has announced.
The announcement was made in audio released on Wednesday. Islamic State (IS) gave no further details, including how or where he died.
Unlike previous IS leaders, little was known about al-Qurayshi, who took over the group’s leadership following the death of his predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, who had died in a US raid in February in northwest Syria.
The death will be a fresh blow to the group as al-Qurayshi is the second leader to be killed this year.
The announcement by spokesman Abu Omar al-Muhajer came at a time when IS has been trying to carry out deadly attacks in parts of Syria and Iraq the extremists once declared a caliphate.
Mr Al-Muhajer said that Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi was named as the group’s new leader.
Al-Qurayshi is the third leader to be killed since its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hunted down by the Americans in a raid in northwest Syria in October 2019.
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing.
