The Iraqi ministry of defence has said that the second-in-command of the Islamic State (IS) has been killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in northern Iraq.
According to the BBC, Abdul Rahman Mustafa Mohammed, also known as Abu Alaa al-Afari, was at a mosque near Tal Afar that was targeted, spokesman Brig-Gen Tahsin Ibrahim said.
The U.S. military later denied that the coalition had targeted a mosque.
The news came as reports suggested that Afari had taken temporary charge of IS operations after leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been incapacitated due to a U.S.-led air strike in Iraq in March.
