Special to WorldTribune.com

Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon

President Barack Obama has authorized targeted killings of the leaders of the Al Qaida offshoot led by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi using drone strikes or special operations, as the Iraqi terrorist on Tuesday urged jihadists to conduct worldwide attacks.

A U.S. official familiar with internal Obama administration discussions on Iraq said the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS) leader and several other commanders are now on the kill list of those targeted as U.S. national security threats. The list was approved by the president and allows U.S. intelligence agencies and the military to conduct strikes against the targeted terrorists after they have been located and their identities confirmed.

CIA and White House National Security Council spokesmen declined to comment on the kill list designations. However, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, revealed last week that attacking IS leaders is under consideration. …

The listing of Baghdadi and IS leaders, including military commander Abu-Umar al-Shishani and the group’s spokesman Abu-Muhammad al-Adnani, comes as the U.S. military began flying armed drone missions over Iraq. The Predator drones, armed with Hellfire missiles, are used as “force protection” for U.S. military troops that were dispatched recently to Baghdad to bolster Iraq’s military.

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  Iraq, ISIL, ISIL ‘caliph’ is on new U.S. drone kill list, LIFE, Syria, WorldTribune.com