Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifa was head of IS's most senior decision-making body, the US Central Command said.

The killing comes as the group has been reconstituting in Syria, carrying out more attacks than at any time since it lost control of its territory nearly six years ago.

Iraqi Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has said that the head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was killed in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.