<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Turkish forces have killed the suspected leader of Islamic State (IS) in Syria, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi is said to have taken over the group after his predecessor was killed last autumn.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Erdogan told broadcaster TRT Turk the IS leader was "neutralised" in a Turkish MIT intelligence agency operation on Saturday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">IS has so far made no comment on the reported operation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The BBC has been unable to independently verify President Erdogan's claim.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The MIT intelligence agency had been following Qurayshi for a "long time", Mr Erdogan said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We will continue our struggle with terrorist organisations without any discrimination," he added, providing no further details.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Syrian sources quoted by Reuters news agency said the operation took place in the northern town of Jandaris, close to the Turkish border.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last November, the jihadist group announced the death of its leader, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi. The US said he was killed in an operation by the rebel Free Syrian Army in south-west Syria in mid-October 2022.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He took over the group after previous leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi set off a blast killing himself and his family as US special forces rounded on his hideout after a gunfight in February 2022.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That operation "removed a major terrorist threat to the world", US President Joe Biden said at the time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">IS once held 88,000sq km (34,000sq miles) of territory stretching from north-eastern Syria across northern Iraq and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The group was driven from its last piece of territory in 2019, but the UN warned in July that it remained a persistent threat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is estimated to have between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq, who are based mostly in rural areas and continue to carry out hit-and-run attacks, ambushes and roadside bombings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">IS regional affiliates also pose threats in other conflict zones across the world. The UN said the most vigorous and well-established networks were based in Afghanistan, Somalia and the Lake Chad basin. BCC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>