ISIS ‘architect of death’ Moataz al-Jubouri killed in Iraq

Ahmed Adel

In a severe blow to ISIS after the killing and arrest of a number of influential leaders and important elements affiliated with the terrorist organization, the Iraq’s Counter Terrorist Service (CTS) announced the killing of deputy ISIS leader Moataz Numan al-Jubouri.

Killing the ‘Governor of Iraq’

Jubouri, also known as Hajji Tayseer, held the position of ISIS’s “governor of Iraq” and was the terrorist organization’s deputy leader for all state affairs. He was also responsible for planning and coordinating foreign terrorist operations.

“After the information provided by the agency that led to the killing of the criminal terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the success of our heroes in the arrest of the terrorist criminal Abdul Nasser Qirdash, today we announce to our great people the killing of the terrorist Moataz Numan Abdul Nayef Najm al-Jubouri (Hajji Tayseer),” the CTS said in a statement.

The CTS stated that it had killed Jubouri after a short period of monitoring his movements inside and outside Iraq by using a fake passport and false identity, adding that the terrorist leader was targeted by airstrike in the Syrian area of ​​Deir Ezzor.

Jubouri was the third major ISIS leader to be killed in May in Deir Ezzor. The US-led coalition had announced on Friday, May 22 that two of the terrorist organization’s leaders were killed in an airstrike, namely Ahmed Issa Ismail al-Zawy, known as Abu Ali al-Baghdadi, who was the ISIS governor in northern Baghdad, and Ahmed Abd Muhammad Hassan al-Jughaifi, a senior official for supplies and logistical services throughout Iraq and Syria.

Scion of a terrorist family

Jubouri was an Iraqi national from the village of Sheikh Ahmed in the district of Al-Shirqat in Salahuddin Governorate, north of Baghdad. He was one of the most prominent leaders of the terrorist organization and had assumed the position of ISIS minister of manufacturing before taking the post of governor of Iraq. He had previously joined the Tawhid wal-Jihad terrorist group and then al-Qaeda before joining ISIS.

He is from a family with a proven record in al-Qaeda and ISIS. His uncle, Ni’ma Abd al-Nayef al-Jubouri, known as Abu Fatima al-Jubouri, was an ISIS official in Iraq’s Kirkuk governorate before being killed in March 2016 in an airstrike by the international coalition, according to Iraqi intelligence.

Moataz al-Jubouri was promoted within the organization until he reached the position of governor of Iraq and governor of Sham in August 2019 with the blessing of late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in October 2019.

Architect of death

Because of his extensive experience in combat, training, and manufacturing bombs and explosive devices, Jubouri was described as the “architect of death,” and he supervised the manufacture of bombs for ISIS’s terrorist activities.

Jubouri was considered close to new ISIS leader Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi or Hajji Abdallah, who comes from Tal Afar in Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq.

In August 2019, the United States offered a $5 million reward for anyone who provided information about Jubouri.