Tarkhan Batirashvili, Abu Omar Shishani

Tarkhan Batirashvili, Abu Omar Shishani

TBILISI, DFWatch–According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Islamic State’s field commander Tarkhan Batirashvili, mostly known under his nom de guerre Abu Omar Shishani, has been ‘clinically dead’ for several days, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

“Shishani is not able to breathe on his own and is using machines. He has been clinically dead for several days,” SOHR’s director Rami Abdurrahman said.

On March 9, major Western news outlets reported that Mr Batirashvili was ‘likely’ killed in an American airstrike in the town of ash-Shaddadi in north-eastern Syria on 4 March.

On 10 March, SOHR denied the reports of his death and informed that he was alive and being treated in a hospital in Raqqa province in territory controlled by the Islamic State.

The father of Tarkhan Batirashvili, who lives in the village of Birkiani in Pankisi valley, has so far not announced mourning after the loss of his son.