US names IS chief on terror blacklist

WASHINGTON: The United States placed the new leader of the Islamic State group on its blacklist of terrorists, naming him as Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that al-Mawli was named leader of the ultra-violent group after an October raid by US commandos killed its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The organization had earlier named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi as its new head, but US officials acknowledged they knew little about him -- and later came to believe that the Islamic State group was using his nom de guerre. Al-Mawli "was previously active in al-Qaeda in Iraq and is known for torturing innocent Yazidi religious minorities," Pompeo said.

"We´ve destroyed the caliphate and we remain committed to ISIS´s enduring defeat no matter who they designate as their leader," he said. A US-led coalition, spearheaded on the ground by Syrian Kurdish fighters, crushed the Islamic State´s so-called caliphate that once stretched for vast stretches of Iraq and Syria -- but the group has inspired attacks much farther afield.