A monitoring group says a U.S. special forces raid in eastern Syria killed 32 members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, including four leaders.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on May 17 that the U.S. operation "killed 32 members of IS, among them four officials, including IS oil chief Abu Sayyaf, the deputy IS defense minister, and an IS communications official."
U.S. officials have said "about a dozen" people were killed in the operation on the night of May 15, which was conducted by Iraq-based U.S. commandos in order to capture Abu Sayyaf.
The operation targeted an IS compound in the eastern Deir Ezzor province.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter called the operation a "significant blow" to IS.
Also on May 17, Syrian state television said government troops have killed five foreign IS leaders in the Deir Ezzor province -- a Saudi, a Turk, a Chechen, a Jordanian, and an Iraqi.
There was no independent confirmation of the claim.