ISIS Leader Dead? Islamic State Emirs Killed By Turkish Warplanes In Syria

Turkish airstrikes in Syria killed two Islamic State group emirs this week amid ongoing international negotiations over how to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war and halt the militant group also known as ISIS. Abu Ansari and Ebu Hussein Tunusi were both killed in separate airstrikes carried out by the government in Ankara, Turkish media reported Saturday.

Ansari was killed Friday by Turkish warplanes in the northern Syrian town of al-Bab under the government's Euphrates Shield operation that began four months ago. In all, Turkey claimed 12 ISIS militants were killed in the attack that also involved Russian fighter jets providing support to Ankara for the first time in the area, Reuters reported.

Tunusi was killed in an airstrike in the same area Thursday when a vehicle transporting the ISIS leader and his bodyguards was reportedly hit. ISIS had recently directed Tunusi to leave his post in Raqqa, the group's stronghold in Syria, to represent the militants in al-Bab.

Little else was known about Ansari and Tunusi.

Turkey's air campaign in Syria has also resulted in the deaths of dozens of Kurdish fighters in northern Syria in recent months. Turkey seeks to help Syrian rebels unseat the government of President Bashar Assad. The Kurds are a large ethnic minority in Syria and a U.S. ally in the international fight against ISIS, but Turkey views Kurdish fighters as terrorists after decades of conflict in southern Turkey along the Syrian border.

The United Nations Security Council was slated to vote soon on a resolution backed by Russia to end the fighting in Syria. The cease fire calls for talks between the Syrian government and opposition led by Russia and Turkey as a peaceful way to end the war.