The Pentagon announced that three influential leaders of the Islamic State terror group have been killed in an airstrike conducted on ISIS stronghold Raqqa that could cause a dent in their terror attack and propaganda campaigns.
In a statement issued by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook regarding the war on terror and published on CNN, two of the lead planners of the November 2015 bombing attack in Paris - Salah Gourmat and Sammy Djedou. Walid Hamam, the third one killed was a convicted suicide attack plotter. Hamam was convicted in absentia in Belgium for a planned terror attack in 2015 which was thwarted after a safehouse in Verviers town was raided by Belgian commandos.
Hamam was also identified to be part of the ISIS-backed terror network of Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Abaaoud was known as the lead conspirator of the Paris attack and was personally assisted by Hamam as part of the ISIS logistical cell that facilitated the transport of attackers to Europe and operatives throughout the Middle East.
Hamam's shady reputation included drug trafficking charges dating back to 2010. He was also actively taking part in the Syrian war under a cluster of extremists back in 2013.
Djedou grew up in Brussels-born of parents hailing from the Belgium and the Ivory Coast. He converted to Islam at the age of 14 and became radicalized by Brussels-based ISIS recruiter Jean-Louis Denis.
The 27-year old ISIS radical has been traveling from Belgium to Syria the past several years and was identified as one of those who planned the Paris attacks.
French ISIS operative Gourmat once belongs to the Forsane Alizza based in France. He became a brigade leader tasked to carry out attacks on the West.
The three ISIS leaders were part of the high profile ISIS external terror attack plotters that were targeted by coalition forces. They were part of the terror network under Boubaker al- Hakim from Tunisia, who was earlier killed in another coalition airstrike last month as part of the continuing efforts on the war on terror.
Much of the information was provided through intelligence reports and networks that are actively taking part in the war on terror. Meanwhile, coalition forces continue to carry out offensives against ISIS and hope to take over the last remaining strongholds of the terror group in Mosul.
Security officials reported last week that the terror group has lost no less than 50000 fighters in the last two years. Coalition forces have been relentlessly fighting the militant terror group responsible for the deaths of many Christians and non-Muslims, including women and children.
