Reports on Tuesday claimed that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition.
Reports on Tuesday claimed that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition.
Baghdadi, according to Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak, died in an air strike on ISIS’ stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria. The reports cited ISIS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq, which is alleged to have close links to ISIS.
In a statement, the agency claimed: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition air strikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan.”
There has been no confirmation of his death by the US or any other coalition powers, who have been targeting the terror group in Syria and Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman told MailOnline they were not aware of any “high value targets” having been killed.
Baghdadi’s death would be a huge boost to the war on terror and a massive blow to ISIS.
Earlier on Monday, Iraqi TV channel Al-Sumaria said that Baghadi had been wounded on Sunday in a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the ISIS-held city of Mosul. US TV network CNN on Monday cited US defence officials as saying they received credible intelligence that Baghdadi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has moved around within the past six months and had travelled to Mosul. Baghdadi is believed to have orchestrated terror attacks in both Paris and Brussels.
In 2006, Baghdadi joined the Mujahideen Shura Council, serving on the “sharia committee”. The group was then renamed the Islamic State of Iraq, with al-Baghdadi becoming a general. He was named leader of the Islamic State of Iraq in 2010.
In 2013, al-Baghdadi oversaw the expansion of the organisiation. It broke its links with Al Qaeda — previously acting as the “Iraqi division” of the terror group — and expanded into Syria, naming itself the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. He proclaimed himself caliph of all Muslims two years ago.
