The Iraqi government said Wednesday that several top ISIL leaders were targeted in a coalition air strike in the northwestern area of Tal Afar.

The Iraqi government said Wednesday that several top ISIL leaders were targeted in a coalition air strike in the northwestern area of Tal Afar.

"Based on accurate intelligence, an air strike was carried out by the international coalition targeting the number two in the ISIL terrorist organization Abu Alaa al-Afari," the ministry of defense said in a statement.

It was not clear from the statement whether Afari was killed in the strike, which the ministry said targeted a gathering in the Martyrs' Mosque in Tal Afar's Al-Ayadiya district.

Afari's name emerged last month in reports claiming that ISIL head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was incapacitated in a coalition strike and handed over the helm of the organization to Afari.

The defense ministry statement Wednesday also said the strike targeted the top ISIL judge in the group's self-proclaimed Jazira province, which includes Tal Afar, and "a large number" of the organization's members.

Tal Afar lies near the border with Syria, almost 400 kilometers (250 miles) northwest of Baghdad.