The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said Thursday that it had killed a propaganda chief and associates in an air strike in the western Iraqi town of Al-Qaim.

Ibrahim Al-Ansari was an "important ISIS leader," said Colonel Joseph Scrocca, a spokesman for the Baghdad-based coalition, using an alternate acronym for Islamic State.

The propaganda official was a leader in propoganda efforts to recruit foreign fighters and encourage "terror attacks" in western countries, Scrocca told reporters.

The air strike took place on March 25, he said.

The bombardment, which also killed four other IS jihadists, destroyed a multimedia operation team, said another Defense Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Their propaganda efforts included "brainwashing of young children to perpetuate ISIS brutal methods," the source said.

The remote town of Al-Qaim is in the Euphrates Valley, at the border with Syria.

According to the Pentagon, the Euphrates Valley could become the last bastion of the Islamic State following the fall of their strongholds in Mosul, Iraq, and Raqa, Syria.

US names IS fighters, British cleric to 'terror' blacklist
Washington (AFP) March 30, 2017 - The US State Department named British radical Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary and the Islamic State group's "Beatles" execution squad member El Shafee Elsheikh to its "designated terrorist" lists on Thursday.

The two were among seven backers and foreign fighters of jihadist groups added to the State and Treasury Department blacklists of "specially designated global terrorists," which place them under global financial sanctions.

Others added to the lists include Mark John Taylor of New Zealand, who joined the Islamic State in 2014; Trinidadian Shane Dominic Crawford, another IS foreign fighter; and Tunisian-born Swede Sami Bouras, whom the State Department called a member of Al-Qaeda involved in planning suicide attacks.

Also included were Muhammad Bahrun Naim Anggih Tamtomo of Indonesia and Muhammad Wanndy Bin Mohamed Jedi of Malaysia.

Naim is a Syria-based planner and financier for Islamic State, while Jedi works with IS in Syria and Iraq to recruit new fighters from abroad.

Choudary is the only one of the seven not at liberty. The former lawyer of Pakistani descent was jailed in September 2016 for encouraging support for IS jihadists.

Elsheikh, also British, is a member of an Islamic State "execution cell" dubbed "The Beatles", which is accused of multiple beheadings of captives, according to the State Department.

"Elsheikh was said to have earned a reputation for waterboarding, mock executions, and crucifixions while serving as an ISIS jailer," said the State Department, using another acronym for the Islamic State.

Listing the seven on the Treasury's sanctions list aims to deny them access to global business and banking networks by banning any American entities from doing business with them.

That ban can extend to foreign entities like banks with US operations, widening the impact of the sanctions.

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Electronics ban on flights not a longterm solution: IATA boss
Montreal (AFP) March 28, 2017
British and US bans on laptops and tablet computers in flight cabins are not sustainable in the long term, the head of the association representing airlines said Tuesday. "The current measures are not acceptable as a long-term solution to whatever threat they are trying to mitigate," said Alexandre de Juniac, director general of the International Air Transport Association. "Even in the s ... read more

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