Following a raid in Istanbul, Turkey reported the capture of the commander of the Islamic State (IS) group.

According to senior sources speaking to Bloomberg, Abu Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi was apprehended by counterterrorism cops and intelligence operatives in the Turkish city. No additional details were provided.

The militant group has been led by Qurashi, whose actual name is Juma Awad al-Badri since Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi was killed in a US operation in Syria in February.

According to Iraqi security officials, Badri is the brother of the group's initial leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who in 2014 declared the "caliphate" in Mosul.

Officials were quoted by the Turkish news website OdaTV claiming that the militant leader was apprehended after extended surveillance of his residence.

According to the news source, police did not open fire throughout the operation, conducted in "great secrecy."

The website did not identify any of the involved officials, but it stated that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would announce the arrest in the following days.

A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed that the Odatv report is accurate to MEE.

IS no longer controls the large territory it did between 2014 and 2018, when it ruled a third of Syria and Iraq. Still, the group poses a security danger throughout the region, especially in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

Thursday, the organization claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in Mazar-i-Sharif, a city in northern Afghanistan.

According to country officials, at least 16 individuals were killed in the explosions.