Quick...someone put in a call to Charlie Sheen.
Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was wounded in an airstrike recently outside the city of Haditha, Iraq’s military said. Photo: U.S. State Department
BAGHDAD—Islamic State’s spokesman was critically injured in an Iraqi airstrike in the western province of Anbar several days ago, Iraq’s joint operations command said Thursday.
Abu Mohammed al-Adnani was wounded when the Iraqi air force launched two guided missiles on an Islamic State hideout near Barwana, outside the city of Haditha, the military said in a statement.
Mr. Adnani had lost a “large amount” of blood and been transported to another hideaway near Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the Sunni Muslim extremist group’s stronghold in the country, the statement said.
Some 15 other senior leaders were killed in an attack in the same region on Thursday, it added.
News of Mr. Adnani’s injury couldn't be independently confirmed. The military didn’t give details of how he might have been wounded.
Mr. Adnani, who was born as Taha Sobhi Falaha in Syria in 1977, is known for his lengthy, often bombastic speeches promoting Islamic State. He declared Islamic State a new Islamic “caliphate” in an audio message in June 2014.
His comments are typically released as audio files and distributed by social media accounts affiliated with the group.
Over the past two years, Mr. Adnani has regularly conveyed messages from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State’s reclusive Iraqi leader.
The U.S. Department of State classified Mr. Adnani as a “specially designated global terrorist” in August 2014, offering a $5 million reward for his capture.
A U.S.-led coalition since 2014 has backed Iraqi forces with airstrikes in the fight against Islamic State.
Iraq’s army declared victory in the Anbar city of Ramadi late last month, forcing the extremists from the central government compound and raising the national flag though some of the group’s fighters remain in outlying areas.
