Isis 'Caliph' Abu Bakr al-Baghadi's Close Aide Killed in Airstrike Near Fallujah

A close aide to the Islamic State [Isis] leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an airstrike in close proximity to the Iraqi city of Fallujah, according to Iraqi state television.

Iraqi television identified the aide as Abu Huthaifa al-Yamani but did not give any further details. IB Times UK was unable to immediately verify the death of Baghdadi's aide.

Fallujah is a city to the west of Baghdad in Anbar province that was captured by IS in a January offensive. Since the capture, the city has been placed under strict Islamic law which IS seeks to impose across its self-proclaimed "caliphate".

It remains unclear how many other IS militants were killed in the strikes around the city.

The claim comes just a day after Iraqi officials confirmed that Baghdadi was wounded by a US airstrike and his right hand man, Auf Abdulrahman Elefery, had died during the aerial assault.

However, Major Curtis Kellogg, spokesman for the US military's Central Command, said it had no accurate intelligence to confirm that Baghdadi was wounded or killed in any strike in the IS-held Iraqi city of Mosul.

"This strike demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the IS terrorist network and the group's increasingly limited freedom to manoeuvre, communicate and command," US Central Command said in a statement.

Al Baghdadi, believed to be in his early 40s, is regarded as the pre-eminent figure in the global jihadi community, leading the campaign of terror against the west. He has a $10 million US bounty on his head.