The Pentagon said Friday that it had killed ISIS' finance minister, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, whom many analysts consider the group's No. 2 leader.
Those analysts believe al-Qaduli would have been expected to take control of the day-to-day running of ISIS, also called ISIL, if its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed or incapacitated.
The U.S. operation was intended to capture him alive, a U.S. official told CNN. Helicopters loaded with special operations forces swooped in on a vehicle carrying al-Qaduli, but at the last moment something happened that caused them to decide to fire on the vehicle instead. The official would not say what it was that caused them to modify the plan.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the death at a news conference Friday morning.
"We are systematically eliminating ISIL's cabinet," Carter said, adding it was "the second senior ISIL leader we've successfully targeted this month."
Explaining the significance of this particular figure, Carter noted, "We've taken out the leader who oversees the funding for ISIL's operations, hurting their ability to pay fighters and hire recruits."
Asked whether the U.S. was turning the corner on the fight against ISIS, Carter responded, "We're certainly gathering momentum and we're seeing that that momentum is having an effect."
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford, appearing alongside Carter, agreed that the U.S.-led coalition was gaining momentum, but he cautioned: "By no means would I say that we're about to break the back of ISIL or that the fight is over."
Carter also connected Friday's announcement to the terror attacks in Europe that ISIS has undertaken, including a mass killing in Brussels on Tuesday.
