United States doubles reward to $10 million for capture of ISIS leader

WASHINGTON -- The United States on Wednesday (June 24) doubled to $10 million its reward for the capture of the leader of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) group.

The US had already offered $5 million for Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi before he was identified as the successor to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed by US commandos in an October raid in Syria.

Al-Salbi uses the nom de guerre Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi.

Born in 1976, al-Salbi is a scholar in Islamic law who issued edicts to justify the persecution of the Yazidi minority, a campaign that the United Nations has described as genocide.

The insurgents killed thousands of Yazidis, who practice an ancient religion, and abducted and enslaved thousands more women and girls as they rampaged across the Middle East.

Al-Salbi was born in Mosul, Iraq, to a Turkmen family, making him one of the few non-Arabs to ascend the ranks of ISIS.

In 2004 al-Salbi reportedly was detained by US forces in Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq, where he met al-Baghdadi.

ISIS at its height ruled vast parts of Iraq and Syria and drew volunteers from the West, but coalition forces have pulverised its strongholds.

Although greatly weakened, ISIS still carries out operations around the world, in particular Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.