A wanted photo of Abdul Rahman Mutafa Mohammed from the US Department of State offering $7 million for any information of his whereabouts.

A US-led coalition air strike of a mosque in northern Iraq has killed the second-in-command of the Islamic State (IS) announced the Iraqi Ministry of Defence on Wednesday.

Abdul Rahman Mutafa Mohammed, also known as Abu Alaa al-Afri was inside the mosque in northern Iraq when it was struck during a meeting with dozens of militants and the group supreme judge who also died along with their second-in-command.

Abu Alaa al-Afri is believed to have taken charge of IS operations recently. The US had a reward of $7 million for any information on his location. The coalition air strike had also incapacitated the IS Caliph (leader) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi with a spinal injury in March, an Iraqi source claimed.

Afri, a former physics teacher in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, was based in Mosul the second biggest city in the country. He “had begun to head up Daesh (ISIS) with the help of officials responsible for other portfolios”, said Dr. Hisham, the Iraqi government adviser.

He had also written and published numerous religious studies of his own and articles, and was a follower of Abu Musaab al-Suri (meaning Abu Musab of Syria, Murafa Setmariam Nasar, the Spanish-Syrian jihadist strategist.

Two doctors from Mosul are believed to be treating Baghdadi, the former self appointed Caliph of IS, who will never be able to lead the militant group.