BAGHDAD — (CNN) The U.S.-led coalition against ISIS says it has dealt a fresh blow to the Islamic extremist group’s money machine by killing its finance minister.
Abu Saleh was killed in late November in a strike in Iraq, said Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the military coalition.
“He was one of the most senior and experienced members of ISIL’s financial network,” Warren told reporters Thursday, using an another acronym for the Sunni militant group. “And he was a legacy al Qaeda member.”
Warren didn’t say how the U.S. had confirmed that Saleh was killed.
The announcement came on the same day that the U.S. Treasury Department detailed its efforts with other countries to stop the flow of money to ISIS, including shutting down banks, slapping sanctions on individuals and clamping down on cross-border transactions.
Saleh is the third member of ISIS’ finance network that the coalition says it has killed in the past three months.
“Killing him and his predecessors exhausts the knowledge and talent needed to coordinate funding within the organization,” Warren said.
He also announced the recent killings of two other prominent ISIS figures in Iraq: Abu Maryam, described as an “enforcer and senior leader of their extortion network;” and Abu Rahman al-Tunisi, who was believed to be responsible for coordinating the movement of information, people and weapons.
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