The leader of the Islamic State militant group in Syria was killed in a US drone strike on Tuesday, the Pentagon said.

Maher al-Agal was killed while riding a motorcycle near Jindayris in Syria. Also, one of his top aides was seriously injured, Pentagon Central Command spokesman Dace Eastburn told AFP.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that Agal was killed in the drone strike.

The Syrian Civil Defense Forces said one person was killed and another wounded in an attack that targeted a motorcycle on the outskirts of Aleppo, but the forces did not release the identities of the victims.

There is little public information about Agal, who according to the Syrian Observer was IS’s governor for the Levant.

The drone strike comes five months after the US carried out a raid in the northern Syrian town of Atme that ended in the death of IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi.

US officials said Qurashi died after detonating the explosives in order to evade capture.