The Iraqi military announced on Wednesday that it had killed Abu Alaa al-Afri, the deputy leader of the terrorist organization known as ISIS, as well as Akram Qirbash, the ‘Judge of Judges’- a senior ISIS security figure.

“Relying on the intelligence information, US-led coalition airstrikes have successfully killed the Islamic State’s second top leader, Abu Al-Afari, in the Ayazia district of Tal Afar, along with many other leaders of the group in the area,” the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

U.S. Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren told CNN “the United States cannot independently confirm that high-value ISIS targets were killed in Iraq.”

Coalition aircraft “did not strike a mosque as some of the press reporting has alleged,” said a statement released by the U.S. Central Command.

Abu Alaa al-Afri had originally worked as a physics teacher before joining Al Qaeda. Reportedly, he was one of Osama Bin Laden’s favorite candidates for the top job. al-Afri was one of four men chosen to lead the caliphate in the event that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the current caliph, was to die. Rumors currently suggest that Baghdadi sustained life-threatening injuries after a US led airstrike struck his convoy.

ISIS has not yet issued a statement confirming or denying any of these allegations.