Islamic State names new top dog

The Islamic State terror group has named its new top dog as Abi Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.

It comes after previous leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed during a US raid on the compound he was hiding out in.

President Trump tweeted on Wednesday that his “number one replacement” was also dead. He was referring to IS spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, who was killed during a separate raid by US forces in which Syrian Democratic Forces had also played a large role.

The news was announced in an audio broadcast on Thursday by IS central media arm al-Furqan.

The speaker named Abu Hamza al-Qurashi urged followers to pledge allegiance to the new Caliph and addressed the Americans saying; “Don’t rejoice.”

The announcement also confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from the terror group’s side for the first time.

“We mourn you … commander of the faithful,” Abu Hamza al-Quraishi said.

It comes after the US released footage of the raid on the IS leader’s compound, including video which showed the moment of attack.

US Central Command Commander Marine General Kenneth McKenzie said al-Baghdadi was the subject of an “intense inter-agency effort to bring him to justice, and that effort significantly advanced recently as we closed in on his whereabouts”.

“The general outline of the mission was a helicopter assault by special operation forces that were pre-staged in Syria. I can assure you that the plan was significantly more complex than that, and designed to avoid detection by ISIS and others prior to and during execution, to avoid civilian casualties,” he said.

President Trump confirmed on Sunday the leader of the terror group had been killed, saying he fled into a tunnel with three children and detonated a suicide vest in Idlib, Syria.

“He was a sick and depraved man, and now he’s gone,” Mr Trump said. “He died like a dog, he died like a coward.”

The president said watching the raid from the Situation Room felt like “you were in a movie”.