US govt maintaining secret ISIS kill list

February 19, 2015 04:29

The US is maintaining a list of about two dozen or so top ISIS operatives in Iraq and Syria it hopes to target in airstrikes according to a senior US official.

The list essentially amounts to a kill list, since the US has no troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria to capture ISIS suspects.

The number one target on the list is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.

One US official said Baghdadi is well aware the US is hunting him, so the belief is he is staying out of sight. It's been months since the last intelligence report about where Baghdadi is hiding, a senior US official tells CNN.

The US believes Al Baghdadi knows warplanes are hunting him so he moves cautiously -- even as his influence has grown beyond Syria and Iraq.

The US has already killed a dozen or so ISIS operatives on the list including an ISIS chemical weapons expert the senior official says. But others are added to the list as intelligence is gained about their role in ISIS.

The official strongly emphasized that the command and control structure of ISIS remains murky and more intelligence is needed about the identity of top operatives.

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