Islamic State commander al-Shishani targeted by US airstrike

A top Islamic State group (IS) commander, Abu Omar al-Shishani, was targeted in a coalition airstrike in Syria, a US official said Tuesday, without specifying his fate.

Al-Shishani, the Chechen militant whose real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili was reportedly targeted last Friday near the northeast Syrian town of al-Shaddadi, which was liberated from IS control on 22 February.

Brett McGurk, the US president's special envoy to the anti-IS coalition confirmed that al-Shishani was targeted in a tweet on Tuesday.

McGurk said al-Shishani's presence close to al-Shaddadi shows the importance of this area to IS. 

Born in 1986 in Georgia, Shishani had a reputation as a close military adviser to Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The US State Depratment had placed a $5 million reward on al-Shishani's head. He is believed to be a former member of an elite Georgian military unit.