Syrian opposition activists and state media apparently did not know that an Iraqi militant who was killed in October in southern Syria was the leader of the Islamic State group.

The spokesman for the Islamic State group says its leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in battle recently.

The leader of the Islamic State group killed in a U.S. raid overnight in northwest Syria was largely a mystery, with almost no known photos, never appearing in public or in the group’s videos.