Last week, Baghdad was rocked by twin suicide attacks that killed over 30 people and injured some 110 others. IS took responsibility for bombings.

"We threatened the terrorist gangs of IS with a swift response. The response of our heroes [the military] was the elimination of their leader … the one who refers to himself as ‘deputy caliph’ and a leader of Iraq in the group, Abu Yasser al-Ithawi," the prime minister tweeted, adding that the terrorist was killed during a special operation.

In late 2017, Baghdad declared that its army defeated the terrorist group in Iraq after years of heavy fighting. However, terror sleeper cells are still operating in some parts of the country.