ISLAMIC Sate's second-in-command Abu Mohammad al-Adnani has been killed in Syria, ISIS-affliated media have reported.
He was widely tipped to be the next leader of the terror group.
"Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the spokesman of the Islamic State, was martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo," ISIS propaganda unit Amaq said in a statement.
His death is a "major blow" to the self-proclaimed caliphate, according to terror analyst Rita Katz.
She tweeted: "When calling for lone wolf attacks in [the] West, ISIS fighters/supporters quote Adnani more than any other individual."
Adnani had been considered the terror network's most prominent public figure in Iraq, having made several audio recordings which have been posted online.
He was held in the same bracket of notoriety as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the caliph of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and has been suggested as the jihadists' next leader should Baghdadi lose his position.
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