U.S. conducts military raid in Syria, captures ISIS official

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- An Islamic State official believed to have been involved in planning attacks in Syria was captured Saturday in U.S. military raid.

U.S. troops conducted the raid with Syrian Democratic Forces and captured Batar, who was said to have been involved in planning attacks on detention centers guarded by the SDF, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

Batar was also accused of having manufactured improvised explosive devices.

"Extensive planning went into this operation to ensure its successful execution," the U.S. Central Command said in its statement. "No civilians and no SDF or U.S. forces were killed or injured."

The raid came after the SDF said in a statement that Hamza al-Homsi, a senior ISIS leader, was killed Thursday during an operation after he was found hiding in the village of al-Hijna in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.

"The terrorist refused to answer the call for safe surrender and detonated himself, wounding four Coalition forces," the SDF said in the statement.

Officials who spoke to CNN said that the four coalition forces injured were U.S. soldiers and that a working dog was also injured.

A third ISIS leader, Mohannad Al-Sari Al-Fadgham, was also killed in a separate raid Thursday by SDF troops with the support of international coalition forces.

Al-Fadgham was involved in the assassination of SDF forces and was killed in al-Sabha area of the Deir Ezzor region after refusing to surrender.