The second-in-command of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group was killed during a US air strike in Iraq on Tuesday, according to the White House.
The US and its allies stage daily air strikes on ISIL targets in the group's self-declared caliphate based in Iraq and Syria.
A drone strike last month killed a senior leader in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

"Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, also known as Hajji Mutazz ... was killed in a US military air strike on August 18 while traveling in a vehicle near Mosul, Iraq, along with an ISIL media operative known as Abu Abdullah," Ned Price, White House spokesman, said in a statement.
"[His] death will adversely impact ISIL's operations given that his influence spanned ISIL's finance, media, operations, and logistics."
The White House said Hayali was a "primary coordinator" for moving weapons, explosives, vehicles, and people between Iraq and Syria.
He was in charge of operations in Iraq and helped plan the group's offensive in Mosul in June of last year, the White House said.
Mutazz was a lieutenant-colonel in the army of deposed leader Saddam Hussein and, like many who later went on to form the core of ISIL's leadership, was detained by US troops in Iraq at the Camp Bucca detention facility, according to Harleen Gambhir, a counterterrorism analyst at the Institute for the Study of War.
It was possible after leaving Camp Bucca that he joined ISIL's predecessor, al-Qaeda in Iraq, she said.
Previous claim
In December last year, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told the Wall Street Journal newspaper that three members of ISIL's "senior leadership" had been killed.
Following these remarks, it was widely reported that al-Hayali was among the dead.
Asked about these reports on Friday, Dempsey's press office told Al Jazeera he had only referred to "senior leadership", and that particular individuals had only been named by others, not Dempsey.
One counterterrorism specialist cautioned that the impact of the killing on ISIL could be short-lived and noted how much territory it controls determines its power.
"My experience in looking at the Islamic State suggests they have demonstrated ... an ability to move people up into positions" when high-ranking operatives are killed, said Seth Jones, a former Pentagon official now at the RAND Corporation.
A US official acknowledged that, but said the death was damaging to ISIL's reputation.
"The death of Mutazz removes a key figure from ISIL and further pierces the group's veneer of invincibility that it has sought to cast," the official said.
The White House said Hajji Mutazz was in charge of operations in Iraq and helped plan last June's Mosul offensive [AP]