The United States Armed Forces have successfully eliminated a serious terrorist threat to the world, the global leader of ISIS - Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, President Joe Biden said in a speech on national television.

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, had led Islamic State since the death in 2019 of its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was also killed when he detonated explosives during a raid by US commandos.

According to Biden, he ordered troops to attack, not just bomb, the house where the IS leader was located to minimize civilian casualties.

According to Biden and US officials, when US troops approached the target, Quraishi blew himself up, also killing members of his own family, including women and children.

An Iraqi from the Turkmen-majority town of Tal Afar, Qurashi was also known as Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla. He replaced Baghdadi after his death.

The US government offered a $10 million reward for information about Qurashi, one of the world's most wanted fugitives.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that "13 people at least were killed, among them four children and three women, during the operation."