[NBCNews] An ISIS commander who claims to have lived in the U.S. has been killed, according to jihadis in the Middle East.Abu Muhammad Al-Amriki, who gained notoriety last February when he appeared in a video blasting al-Qaeda's Syria branch, Jabhat al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
, was a high-ranking figure within ISIS. The name "Al-Amriki" means "American."
While reports of his death have circulated before, the latest claim is considered "far more reliable" because it originated from jihadis "familiar with ISIS activities in Syria and Iraq" themselves, global security firm and NBC News counterterrorism consultant Flashpoint Intelligence said. NBC News could not independently verify the reports.
Al-Amriki claimed to be an American but it was not clear if he was actually a U.S. citizen. "Al-Amriki has a heavy accent when speaking English and might have only spent a short amount of time in the U.S. or migrated there at an older age," Flashpoint noted, adding that he "rose up the ranks of the group very quickly."
It was not immediately clear when or where he died.
| It's all awfully vague. But now we know that possibly something happened somewhere. |