Story highlights Egyptian army announces it has killed a key ISIS leader in the Sinai

The jihadist group Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, aka Wilayat Sinai, claimed it took down an airliner full of Russian tourists in 2015

(CNN) The Egyptian army announced Thursday it had killed a key ISIS-allied leader in the Sinai Peninsula.

Dead is the head of the Ansar Bait al-Maqdis movement, identified as Abu Duaa al-Ansari, and a number of his aides in airstrikes targeting the ISIS affiliate's strongholds, the army statement said.

"They managed to destroy a number of weapon and ammunition stores, and their explosives," said the statement. "In addition they killed more than 45 terrorist insurgents and injured dozens of members."

The army did not explain how it confirmed the death or provide any more details about Ansari, for whom there is a dearth of information in public news accounts.

His name does not appear in previous CNN reports and has not been reported elsewhere in relation to Ansar Bait al-Maqdis.

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