Baghdad - The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) may have just suffered a massive loss after reports that the organization's Abu Hajar al-Suri, the group's second highest ranking official, has died Thursday.

Abu Hajar al-Suri died as the militants swept Baghdad Thursday, kidnapped and killed dozens of men, reported The Times of Israel.

Like Us on Facebook

The latest Iraqi and Lebanese reports indicated that al-Suri was one of the casualties of a U.S. air strike near Mosul. Several other credible resources have reported his death, although no official confirmation has been made.

However, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's second-in-command was said to have been killed in August 22 in the Taqaba airport within days of al-Suri's apparent reference of a suicide attack on Twitter.

Also on Thursday, police and witnesses said that the ISIS militants took 50 men from Tal Ali, a village located 240 kilometers north of Baghdad as two separate car bombings killed 23 people. According to anonymous witnesses, the men were loaded onto trucks and taken away, reported the Associated Press.

The incident followed the burning of one of ISIS' outposts in the area. Villagers also burned an ISIS flag as the militants retreated on Wednesday, a day before news of an Iraqi army attack broke out. The militants returned Thursday to resume overrunning the minority-populated village.

Amnesty International reported that this recent mass abductions and killings is just part of the "systematic ethnic cleansing" the Islamic State group conducts in its bid to establish a Muslim caliphate.

In the northern city of Mosqul, at least 70 civilians were executed in Iraqi officials confirmed. Most of the victims were Turkmen Shias and Kurds who were rallied for mass execution following the Thursday incident.

The Islamic State militants displaced and executed Yazidis, Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities by the thousands last month.

TagsISIS, Abu Hajar al-Suri death, Iraq, Baghdad