WASHINGTON — The second-in-command of the Islamic State died in a U.S. airstrike near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul earlier this week in what the White House described Friday as a blow to the group’s operations.

Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, who used the alias Hajji Mutaaz, is the second senior leader of the Islamist extremist group killed by the United States since May.

It remains unclear, however, how much damage the losses have done as the Islamic State continues to hold huge swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria more than a year after the United States began efforts to crush the group.

“There’s no doubt that ISIL has proven capable of replacing leadership losses,” said a U.S. official, using one of the acronyms by which the group is known. “That said, the death of Mutazz removes a key figure from ISIL and further pierces the group’s veneer of invincibility that it has sought to cast.”

Al-Hayali died when the vehicle in which he was riding was struck by U.S. aircraft Tuesday, Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in a statement. Killed along with al-Hayali was an Islamic State media operative Price identified as Abu Abdallah.

Al-Hayali was a member of the Islamic State’s leadership council and second-in-command to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the organization’s paramount leader. He was responsible for coordinating the movements of large amounts of ammunition, explosives, vehicles and fighters between Syria and Iraq, Price said.

He also oversaw the Islamic State’s military operations in Iraq, including the June 2014 offensive in which the group overran Mosul and stormed to the outskirts of Baghdad as much of the Iraqi army disintegrated.

Al-Hayali reportedly served as a colonel in military intelligence under the late dictator Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

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