WASHINGTON — The U.S. military says the Islamic State group hacker killed in a U.S. airstrike in Syria had been recruiting sympathizers in the West to carry out "lone wolf" terrorist attacks.
A spokesman for Central Command, Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday that the hacker, Junaid Hussain, also was responsible for the recent release of personally identifying information on about 1,300 U.S. military and government employees and sought to inspire violence against U.S. service members.
Ryder called Hussain a key IS member. He said he was killed Monday in an airstrike in Raqqa, the city the Islamic State group considers its capital.
Ryder said Hussain was a British citizen and the only person killed in the airstrike.
Pentagon: IS hacker killed in US strike also was recruiter
This image made from gun-camera video taken on July 4, 2015 and released by United States Central Command shows an airstrike on a main road and transit route near the Islamic State group-held Raqqa, Syria. U.S. Central Command via AP