Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 12-07-2017

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been dead after Iraq declared it had driven the group from their one-time biggest stronghold of Mosul.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a long-time monitor of the country’s conflict, says it had information from top ISIS leaders confirming Baghdadi’s death.

The report could not be independently verified and Baghdadi has been reported dead several times.

But if confirmed, his death would mark another devastating blow to the ISIS after its loss of Mosul, which Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi this week said had been retaken from the group after a gruelling months-long campaign.

The Britain-based monitoring group’s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP they learned of Baghdadi’s death but don’t know the details of how he died.

“Top tier commanders from IS who are present in Deir Ezzor province have confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, emir of the Islamic State group, to the Observatory.”

Deir Ezzor, in eastern Syria, remains largely under ISIS control even as the group is losing territory elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring Iraq.

Abdel Rahman says Baghdadi “was present in eastern parts of Deir Ezzor province” in recent months, but it was unclear if he died in the area or elsewhere.

There was no official confirmation or denial of the news on social media platforms used by ISIS.

There have been persistent rumours of Baghdadi’s death in recent months, and Russia’s army said in mid-June that it was seeking to verify whether it had killed the IS chief in a May air strike in Syria.

The 46-year-old Iraqi-born leader of IS has not been seen since making his only known public appearance as “caliph” in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul.

– AFP