Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has reportedly been wounded in an air strike in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, a military statement said on Thursday.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

“There are confirmed reports that the so-called terrorist Abu Muhammad al-Adnani the spokesman of the Daesh (ISIS) terrorists was wounded in an air strike ... in the region of Barwana,” the military statement said.

Adnani lost “a large amount of blood” in the attack a few days ago, before being moved to the northern city of Mosul, ISIS’ capital in Iraq, the statement added.

More than 100 ISIS fighters were killed in and around Barwana this week by air strikes aimed at helping the Iraqi army repel militant offensives near the city of Haditha, according to the U.S.-led coalition.

Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib who pledged allegiance to ISIS’ predecessor al Qaeda more than a decade ago and was once imprisoned by U.S. forces in Iraq, according to the Brookings Institution.

Adanani has been the chief propagandist for the hardline group since he declared in a June 2014 statement that it was establishing a modern-day caliphate spanning large swaths of territory it had seized in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

William McCants, a Brookings scholar who is author of the book “The ISIS Apocalypse,” said if true, Adnani’s wounding could be a significant setback for ISIS.

“If he’s incapacitated, Baghdadi has lost a very trusted adviser,” he said by phone, referring to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “His name has been floated as a possible successor... and he’s an effective propagandist.”

U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria, could not confirm the Iraqi military report but said Adnani had not been targeted by a coalition air strike.

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:47 - GMT 06:47