ANKARA

Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi, the so-called leader of the Daesh/ISIS terror group, detonated his suicide vest when he realized that he was about to be captured by Turkish intelligence forces, according to security sources.

The Turkish National Intelligence Organization received a tip-off al-Qurayshi was in Afrin’s Jinderes town in northern Syria and will relocate soon.

A special team of Turkish intelligence raided the house where the terrorist was hiding and carried out a secret operation on Saturday.

They called on the terrorist to surrender when they busted the house which had a covert underground shelter, but did not get any response.

Thereupon, the special operations intelligence team blasted the garden wall of the house first, then the rear entrance doors and side walls to break into the building.

When al-Qurayshi realized that he was about to be captured, he detonated his suicide vest.

The operation, which lasted around four hours, did not result in any harm to civilians or the special operations intelligence team involved, according to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restriction on speaking to the media.

Al-Qurayshi, who joined the Daesh/ISIS terror group in 2013, rose to senior positions within the organization in a short time.

Al-Qurayshi was declared the so-called new caliph on Nov. 30, 2022 after the murder of the previous Daesh/ISIS leader, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan