Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on Friday that his country's security forces killed a senior Islamic State (IS) group leader, Abdullah Makki Muslih al-Rufayi.

"The heroes of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service, with the support and coordination of the Joint Operations Command and the International Coalition Forces, were able to kill the terrorist Abdullah Makki Musleh Al-Rifai, nicknamed (Abu Khadija), who held the position of the so-called (Deputy Caliph, who also holds the positions of the so-called Governor of Iraq and Syria, the Head of the Delegated Committee, and the Head of the External Operations Offices). He is considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world," Al-Sudani wrote in a post on X.

Al-Rufayi was also targeted by the United States State Department's sanctions last year along with another ISIS leader, Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn `Ali al-Mainuki.