Iraqi officials reported Thursday that Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, ISIS' chief spokesman and a top member, is under heavy guard after being wounded in an airstrike in Iraq's western province of Anbar.
"There are confirmed reports that the so-called terrorist Abu Muhammad al-Adnani the spokesman of the Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists was wounded in an air strike ... in the region of Barwana," the military said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The statement indicates that Adnani lost "a large amount of blood" following the attack several days ago, prompting him to be transported to the city of Hit for treatment. He was later transferred to Mosul, a northern Iraqi city currently under Daesh control, under tight security.
Details about the airstrike are unknown, with officials only saying that the airstrike and subsequent wounding of Adnani is the result of more than a month's worth of tracking and effort, CNN reported.
Adnani's wounding was also reported by Iraqi state television, but U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition bombing Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, was unable to confirm the Iraqi report, saying that Adnani was not the target of a coalition airstrike.
If it turns out that Adnani was in fact incapacitated, it could be a major victory for the U.S.-led coalition, as well as the fight against terrorism in the Middle East as a whole. While Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the unquestioned leader of the terror group, Adnani is arguably its most public figure and has been touted as a replacement for Baghdadi should anything occur, according to The Daily Star.
"If he's incapacitated, Baghdadi has lost a very trusted adviser," Brookings scholar William McCants said. "His name has been floated as a possible successor... and he's an effective propagandist."
