The US says its special forces have
killed a senior Islamic State (IS) member and captured his wife in a
rare ground raid in eastern Syria.
Abu Sayyaf helped direct oil, gas and financial operations for IS, as well as holding a military role, said a US Department of Defense statement. It said forces tried to capture him, but he was killed after engaging them.
It is the first time the US is known to have carried out a ground operation to attack IS within Syria.
The operation was authorised by President Barack Obama and was carried out by forces based in Iraq.
US
officials said Abu Sayyaf was Tunisian, with one official telling CNN
he was the chief financial officer "of all of [IS]" and that the US had
seized "reams of data on how ISIS operates, communicates and earns its
money".
On Arabic social media, however, Abu Sayyaf was not being spoken of as a known public figure.
Oil and gas have been an important source of revenue for IS, which gained swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq last year.
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