Report: ISIS Commander from Kosovo Killed in Mosul, Iraq

Kurdish news outlet Rudaw is reporting that high-ranking Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) commander Abu Abdullah Kosovoi was killed by a roadside bomb on Sunday inside of Mosul, Iraq. The Mosul Brigades, a group of ordinary citizens fighting against the Islamic State, are allegedly responsible for the hit.

“The convoy of six vehicles was on its way to Khalid army base when it was hit by two bombs near Ayn Jahish,” a source within Mosul told Rudaw.

The Islamic State invaded Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June and pushed out the entire Christian community. Kosovoi was supposedly the terrorist group’s top commander in Iraq.

In October 2013, Abu Abdullah, originally from Kosovo, appeared in a recruitment video aimed at Albanians. It was taped in Aazaz, Syria:

“My Muslim brothers, this advice from the Levant, the land of Jihad, and as you can see, Allah has blessed us with victory, and there’s no more any authority for the apostates and the infidels, thank Allah!” he said. “We thank Allah who granted us victory so we can live under the shadow of the Sharia and for the Sharia. People here love Sharia and are flocking to be ruled by Sharia.”

It is well known that Americans and citizens from the West flocked to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State. A large amount of men in the group are from the “Albanian world” (Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro). In August, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation in London said, “Some 300 Albanian fighters from Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, have joined radical jihadist groups in Syria, including Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State.” From Balkin Insight:

In March, the Albanian authorities arrested eight people, including two radical imams, suspected of recruiting Albanians to join militant groups in Syria.

Last week Kosovo Police also detained 40 people who are believed to be members of or sympathisers with the Islamic State.

Recently, Lavdrim Muhaxheri, a Kosovo Albanian fighting with the Islamic State, made headlines when pictures were published showing him allegedly beheading a young soldier in Syria.