Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-proclaimed caliph of terror group ISIS, has reportedly been killed in Syria in air strikes carried out by the US-led coalition, according to some news reports.
According to a report published on June 13 in Turkish daily Yeni Safak, Baghdadi was killed in air strikes conducted in Syria on June 12. Yeni Safak cited a statement published by news agency al-Amaq, affiliated to ISIS, which said Baghdadi had been killed 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 reports of his death.
Earlier reports had said Baghdadi had been injured in an air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the ISIS-held city of Mosul while travelling in a convoy with other senior ISIS figures.
On June 10, Iraqi television channel Al Sumariya TV cited a local source in the northern province of Nineveh saying that Baghdadi and other ISIS leaders were wounded on June 9 in a coalition air strike on one of the group’s command headquarters close to the Syrian border. However, US and Iraqi officials had said they could not confirm that report.
CNN had 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.
