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Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, a crony of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who was tied to the deadly New Year’s nightclub bombing in Turkey was killed by US forces in Syria, the US Central Command announced today. Troops killed ISIS “facilitator” Abdurakhmon Uzbeki on April 6, said Col. John Thomas, chief spokesman for US Central Command. Uzbeki was tied to the New Year’s attack on a nightclub in Istanbul that killed 39, the military said. “He was involved in plotting external terror plots,” Thomas said. “We’ve clearly linked him with the Istanbul” attack.
The ground operation was conducted by US Special Operations forces near Mayadin, Syria, according to a defense official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the operation, the network reported. Mayadin is located in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria.
It’s a rare use of US Special Operations ground units for combat inside Syria.
A longstanding expeditionary targeting force made up of Special Operations troops has been tasked with these types of missions.