The United States says a leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State with links to terrorist attacks in Paris has been killed by US-led air strikes.
The claim comes after Iraqi forces, backed by a US-led coalition, recaptured a key part of the city of Ramadi from IS earlier in the week.
Abbie O'Brien reports.
The United States says 10 IS leadership figures have been killed in coalition air strikes over the past month.
Colonel Steve Warren, of the US army, says targeting key leaders is a tactic designed to disable the organisation's ability to coordinate attacks.
"The organisation is losing its leadership. We are striking at the head of this snake, like I said. We haven't severed the head of this snake yet, and it's still got fangs, we have to be clear about that. There's much more fighting to do. But our ability to dismantle their facilitation networks, our ability to dismantle their ground command and control, our ability to take away some of their enforcers, these executioners and these extortionists, that eats away at their ability to instill fear in the population they control."
Some of those leadership figures killed are reported to have had links to the Paris attacks in November.
One was Charaffe al Mouadan, a Syrian-based member of IS, also known as ISIL.
Colonel Warren says he was believed to have had a direct link to the Paris attacks cell leader and had further plans to attack the West.
"Charaffe al Mouadan. He was a Syrian-based ISIL member with a direct link to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Paris attack cell leader. We killed him on December 24th in Syria. Al Mouadan was actively planning additional attacks against the West."
Another was Abdul Qader Hakim, alleged by the United States to have facilitated IS external operations as well as having links to the Paris attack network.
The men's deaths coincide with a significant victory for Iraq's armed forces earlier in the week.
On Monday, the Iraqi army, backed by an international US-led coalition, recaptured a former government compound in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
The city had fallen to IS in May.
Colonal Warren says it is an important defeat now for IS.
"The Iraqi security forces have achieved considerable success in Ramadi. They've raised the Iraqi flag over the provincial government centre in the downtown area. The clearance of the government centre is a significant milestone and is the result of many months' hard work."
The United States says the coalition has conducted more than 630 air strikes since July.
It says more than 150 have come in the past month.
