US raid in Syria kills 'senior Islamic State leader'

The US military said America and its allies have staged 22 air strikes on Islamic State targets since Friday, including four near Ramadi, the city taken by the militants last week.

Coalition forces also attacked five Islamic State sites in Syria between Friday and Saturday, a statement from the Combined Joint Task Force said. The strikes near Ramadi hit tactical units, armored vehicles and a fighting position in militant-controlled territory.

US commandos engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Islamic State fighters during a raid that saw a suspected commander of the militant group killed, according to officials.

New details have been disclosed about the raid, which was ordered by President Barack Obama and had been planned for several weeks.

Delta Force commandos used UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and V22-2 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to punch deep into eastern Syria from Iraq.

Abu Sayyaf, the suspected IS senior figure targeted in the attack, was described as being heavily involved in the group's black-market sales of oil and gas to raise funds.

The mission was the first known US special forces mission inside Syria since a failed mission last year to rescue a number of hostages held by Islamic State in the north of the country.

US Special Ops forces involved in a deadly raid on a suspected Islamic State and his wife freed a Yazidi woman who "appears to have been held as a slave" by the couple, the US Secretary of Defence says.

Ash Carter said the wife of the man killed - suspected IS militant Abu Sayyef - also "played an important role" in the group's activities.

He added that the wife was now being held in US military detention in Iraq.

US Special Ops forces killed around a dozen opposition fighters in an overnight US Special Ops raid targeting a senior Islamic State figure, a US official told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.

Defence Secretary Ash Carter earlier confirmed that no US forces were killed or wounded in the operation.

White House officials have said that the US did not advise the Syrian government in advance or coordinate with it on a special ops raid in which an Islamic State leader Abu Sayyaf was killed and his wife was captured and taken to Iraq.

"The U.S. government did not coordinate with the Syrian regime, nor did we advise them in advance of this operation," said a White House National Security Council spokeswoman.

"We have warned the Assad regime not to interfere with our ongoing efforts against ISIL inside of Syria," she said, using an alternative acronym for Islamic State.

"The Assad regime is not and cannot be a partner in the fight against ISIL."

A US National Security council spokesperson said in a statement that a Special Ops mission in Syria was "authorised by the President" Barack Obama.

The US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has issued a statement on the Special Ops raid in Syria saying that Abu Sayyaf has been killed.

Carter said that Abu Sayyaf helped direct IS "illicit oil, gas, and financial operations as well". US forces captured his wife Umm Sayyaf who is being kept in military detention in Iraq.

US Military Special Operations forces have carried out a raid inside Syria and have killed a senior Islamic State Commander, CNN has reported citing unnamed sources.

The network reports that US commandos flew into eastern Syria to carry out the raid. US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said that US Special Ops targeted Islamic State leader Abu Sayyaf.