Daesh ‘information minister’ killed in Mosul raid: Army

By Serhad Shaker and Mohamed Walid

NINEVEH, Iraq (AA) - The Daesh terrorist group’s "information minister" has been killed by an airstrike in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi army said Wednesday.

In a statement, the army said Iraqi warplanes had struck Daesh positions in Mosul, which remains the target of a wide-ranging military offensive now in its fifth week.

According to the army statement, Zeyad Kharoufa -- believed to have been responsible for Daesh’s elaborate propaganda machine -- was killed in one of the airstrikes.

In a related development, Iraq’s Military Intelligence Directorate announced that a Daesh aerial drone had been shot down west of Mosul.

In a statement, the directorate said the drone had been brought down in the Mahlabya district (some 35 kilometers west of Mosul) with the help of the Hashd al-Shaabi militia group.

An umbrella group of pro-government Shia militias, the Hashd al-Shaabi was established in 2014 with the express aim of fighting Daesh.

In mid-2014, the terrorist group overran vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq, including Mosul.