New Delhi: The ISIS on Wednesday said its chief Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi has been killed in battle and announced a replacement, news agency AFP reported.
An ISIS spokesman said Hashimi was killed "in combat with enemies of God". However, he did not divulge further details on the date of his death or the circumstances in which he died.
Speaking in an audio message, the ISIS spokesman identified the group's new leader as Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi.
According to reports, Qurashi refers to a tribe of the Prophet Mohammed, from whom ISIS leaders must claim descent.
READ | Ukrainian Embassy Worker Injured In Letter Bomb Blast In Madrid: Report
It is to be noted that after a meteoric rise in Iraq and Syria in 2014, that saw it conquer vast territories, ISIS saw its self-proclaimed "caliphate" collapse under a wave of offensives.
It was defeated in Iraq in the year 2017 and in Syria two years after that. However, sleeper cells of the Sunni Muslim extremist group still carry out attacks in both the countries and claim attacks elsewhere across the globe.
Notably, the previous leader of ISIS, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, was killed earlier this year in a US raid in Idlib province in northern Syria.
READ | US To Unveil 'Most Advanced Military Aircraft Ever Built' On Friday
His predecessor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed, also in Idlib, in October 2019.
According to an AFP report, the former chief Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was arrested in Turkey earlier in May this year.
Turkey had "no clear information" whether the suspect was -- as media reports had claimed -- ISIS leader Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, an official told AFP on condition of anonymity.