Erdogan said the group’s chief, Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, had been “neutralised” as part of a Turkish intelligence operation on Saturday.
Agents are believed to have killed the terror chief in Jindires, a town in northern Syria, about four miles from the Turkish border, the Sun UK reported.
Erdogan told the TRT Turk TV station on Sunday that “This individual was neutralised as part of an operation by the Turkish national intelligence organization in Syria.
“MIT (the National Intelligence Organization) has been tracking the so-called leader of Daesh, Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, for a long time.”
The operation is said to have involved targeting an abandoned farm that was being used as an Islamic school.
The mission took place around 1am on Saturday and allegedly involved Turkish forces storming the house and clashing with ISIS fighters.
It was reported that at they were allegedly able to surround Al-Qurashi who then blew himself up with explosives strapped to his body.
Local residents claim the clashes lasted for about an hour before they heard a loud explosion.
Al-Qurashi became the fourth leader of ISIS in November, when the group announced the death of his predecessor, Abu al-Hasan al-Hashmi al-Qurayshi – who was killed fighting in Syria.
The founder of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed by American forces in October, 2019.
After years of hiding, US troops managed to track down Baghdadi to his lair in north western Syria.
The huge raid used a eight helicopters carrying 70 elite Delta Force troops that descended on the a booby-trapped compound and cornered the tyrant.
Baghdadi was hunted by an attack dog down a secret tunnel with his own kids, where the sick fanatic ignited his suicide vest killing himself and his children.
At its height in 2014, ISIS occupied roughly one-third of Syria and Iraq, which sparked a major humanitarian crisis and waves of terror attacks around the world.
The terror group now controls only small pockets of land in the rural hinterlands of Syria’s east after being driven out of much of its former territory.
The last remaining ISIS militants still launch sporadic attacks in the war-weary nation.
The news of Al-Qurashi’s killing by Turkish forces comes as Erdogan faces a tough battle ahead to secure another election victory after more than 20 years in power.
Opposition parties have united together behind an alternative candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who appears to have the edge in the latest opinion polls.
The incumbent leader has been facing the pressure from the devastation of the twin earthquakes that left over 500,000 dead and surging inflation.
