Washington (CNN) The US national counterterrorism chief predicted ISIS will announce a new leader in the coming days following this weekend's killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

At a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday, acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Russell Travers called the death of Baghdadi a "significant" loss but added that the terror group has a "deep bench."

"We need to remember that the United States and the coalition overall has had tremendous success in eliminating leadership over the years of both al Qaeda and ISIS, and yet the bench tends to rise to the top. And my guess is that if history is any judge, over the next -- somewhere between a couple of days and a couple of weeks -- we'll see a new leader, khalif, announced," Travers said.

Baghdadi died in the early morning hours Sunday after blowing himself up when cornered by US forces who had raided his compound in northern Syria, according to President Donald Trump.

Abu Hasan al-Muhajir, a high ranking deputy in the terror group and its spokesman, was seen as a possible successor, Travers said, although he was also killed in recent days in a different part of northern Syria than where Baghdadi died.

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