Beirut, 17 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) - US troops have said they carried out a helicopter raid targeting a senior Islamic State leader in northern Syria who was in charge of planning attacks in the Middle East and Europe.

"The raid resulted in the probable death of the targeted individual," a statement from US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Monday.

It added that two armed individuals were killed in the operation.

The statement said that no US troops were wounded and that "they assess that no civilians were killed or wounded in the operation."

Rami Abdel Rahman the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed to dpa that the operation had taken place and said three people were killed, two on the site of the operation itself and a third on the outskirts of a village.

The observatory said the attack took place in the countryside of Jarabulus, east of Aleppo after midnight Sunday.

It said that the US-led coalition forces carried out an airdrop in the village of Al-Suwaida in the Ghandoura district in the Jarablus countryside, within the areas controlled by the Turkish forces and their loyal factions.

According to Abdel Rahman the leader who was targeted was called  "Abu Al-Baraa" and he comes from the town of Al-Safira in the southern countryside of Aleppo. He has been living in a building in the village of Al-Suwaida for nearly a month now, he said.

On April 12, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced it had captured an operative for the terrorist Islamic State militia and two of his associates in a helicopter raid in eastern Syria.

US forces were deployed to Syria in 2015 to assist the Syrian Kurds and their allies in the fight against Islamic State.

Photo: EPA