IS chief Baghdadi killed in air raid: Reports

ROME: The Islamic State (IS) terror group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air strike in Syria by US-led coalition forces, media reports have

ROME: The Islamic State (IS) terror group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air strike in Syria by US-led coalition forces, media reports have said.

HT Image

Baghdadi died in a strike on the IS stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, the Turkish daily Yeni Safak and Iranian state media reported on Monday. The reports cited the IS-affiliated Amaq News Agency.

The reports could not be independently verified.

Yeni Safak quoted a statement from Amaq about the death of the so-called “caliph” of the IS on Sunday.

“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan,” the statement said.

The US-led coalition did not immediately comment on the reports.

On Monday, Iraq’s Al-Sumaria TV channel said Baghadi had been wounded on Sunday in the coalition air strike at a location 65 km west of the IS-held city of Mosul.

CNN had on Monday cited US defence officials as saying they had received credible intelligence that Baghdadi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has moved around within the past six months and had recently travelled to Mosul.

There have been several reports about Baghdadi’s death in the past but they were all proved to be incorrect.