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The unconfirmed bombing was carried out as Baghdadi was traveling to a meeting of Islamic State commanders. It has not been verified if Baghdadi was killed in the attack. Baghdadi, born in Samarra in 1971, has taken personal credit for coordinating multiple attacks while operating as leader of the Islamic State, also known as ISIL, ISIS and Daesh.
The Iraqi Air Force on Sunday said it bombed a convoy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the western province of Anbar.
Iraq's air force "bombed the convoy of the terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi while he was heading to Karabla to attend a meeting with Daesh commanders," according to a statement. "The location of the meeting was also bombed and many of the group's leaders were killed and wounded," the statement added. The U.S. Department of State in 2011 labeled Baghdadi as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and offered a $10 million bounty.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's convoy bombed
Iraq said on Sunday its air force had hit the meeting and had also struck a convoy that was carrying Baghdadi to attend it. It said Baghdadi had been driven away from the convoy in an unknown condition.The Iraqi military's announcement was the latest unconfirmed report of the possible death or injury of Baghdadi, who has survived a year of U.S.-led air strikes and multi-sided wars in two countries since proclaiming himself caliph of all Muslims after his forces swept through most of northern Iraq last year. A Twitter site which publishes statements from Islamic State said "rumors" that an air strike had targeted Baghdadi were false.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet
A U.S. military official in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States has not seen any indications Baghdadi was killed or injured during the operation. "Iraqi air forces have bombed the convoy of the terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi while he was heading to Karabla to attend a meeting with Daesh commanders," the Iraqi military said in a statement. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. Karabla is a town in Iraq's Anbar province near the Syrian border, an Islamic State stronghold, not to be confused with Kerbala, a Shi'ite holy city in the south. "The location of the meeting was also bombed and many of the group's leaders were killed and wounded. The fate of murderer al-Baghdadi is unknown and he was carried away by a vehicle. His health condition is still unclear," the military said.
Hospital sources and residents said airstrikes hit two houses and killed eight senior local leaders of an Islamic State police force in the town. Islamic State supporters said on Twitter that even if Baghdadi had been killed, his self-proclaimed caliphate straddling large areas of Iraq and Syria would survive. "Do you think we would leave the State of the caliphate and abandon it, oh vile world?," asked one of his followers. "This is the religion of God, it rose on the skulls of heroes and martyrs and every time one of them is martyred we rise." Baghdadi has galvanized militants from around the world, encouraged by his military successes and plans to redraw the map of the Middle East to create a self-sustaining caliphate. His successes prompted the United States to re-engage in Iraq with air strikes against his fighters three years after pulling out following a long, costly occupation. Russia, which has launched a bombing campaign to aid its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad, says its main enemy is Islamic State as well. An Islamic State fighter reached by telephone could not confirm whether Baghdadi had been in a convoy that was struck, but said the group would fight on whatever his fate: "Even if he was martyred then it will not affect Islamic State. We will lose a leader but there are a thousand Baghdadis."
Islamic State figures killed in air strike; Baghdadi not believed among them
When the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on February 5 on al Qaida’s resurgence in Iraq, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran and Iraq Brett McGurk presented written testimony explaining the agenda of ISIS (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL), and discussed Baghdadi’s audio message to Americans. ISIL, McGurk said, focuses on “an aim to carve out an Islamic caliphate stretching from Baghdad to Lebanon.” “ISIL has also made its intentions clear: move from a new base of operations in Fallujah to Baghdad--a distance of under 30 miles,” McGurk said in his written testimony. “Its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had this to say in a rare audio statement issued on January 21: ‘As for ISIS in Iraq: Be in the frontlines against the Shia, and march toward Baghdad and the South, keep the Shia busy in their own areas. Know that the entire Sunni population and the brothers in Syria are watching you.’”
McGurk then noted that Baghdadi went on to conclude his audio statement by issuing a direct threat to the United States. Specifically, Baghdadi said: “Our last message is to the Americans. Soon we will be in direct confrontation, and the sons of Islam have prepared for such a day. So watch, for we are with you, watching.” “We take such threats seriously and through cooperation with this committee and the Congress, we intend to help the Iraqis in their efforts to defeat ISIL over long term,” McGurk told the committee in his spoken testimony.
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi
The day before McGurk appeared in the Foreign Affairs Committee, CIA Director John Brennan testified at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s annual hearing on “Worldwide Threats.” Discussing Jabhat al Nusra, which is the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, and ISIL, Brennan warned that al Qaeda may develop the capability to “use Syria as a launching pad” for attacks on the West, and that al Qaeda already had training camps both in Syria and Iraq where it was developing capabilities that could threaten the West. “There are three groups of people [operating in Eastern Syria] that are a concern, from an extremist standpoint; Ahrar Asham, Jabhat al-Nusra, which is the Al Qaida element within Syria, and the Islamic state of Iraq and Levant,” said Brennan. “It's those latter two I think are most dedicated to a terrorist agenda.
“We are concerned about the use of Syrian territory by the Al Qaida organization to recruit individuals and develop the capability to be able not just to carry out attacks inside of Syria, but also to use Syria as a launching pad,” he said. “So it's those elements--Al Qaida and ISIL--that I'm concerned about, and especially the ability of these groups to attract individuals from other countries, both from the West, as well as throughout the Middle East and South Asia, and with some experienced operatives there who have had experience in carrying out a global Jihad,” Brennan continued. “There are camps inside of both Iraq and Syria that are used by Al Qaida to develop capabilities that are applicable, both in the theater, as well as beyond,” the CIA director testified.
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For months now, several forces, including those of Syria and the U.S. have made statements claiming to have killed the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in their operations in the Middle East. However, there has been little in the form of proof of Baghdadi and some senior officials and experts have even doubted claims of his death. Now, as the terrorist group stands at a point of its imminent demise, losing land and soldiers, the Islamic State released the 46-minute audio recording too rally the remaining militants. This would be the first time since last November that supporters of the jihadist group have heard the voice of their self-proclaimed caliph. His last message was released when Iraqi troops were descending on the city of Mosul, which was the largest metropolis controlled by the terror group. In the recording released on Thursday, Baghdadi addresses his foot soldiers after the loss of Mosul, a city of one million. He also speaks about the subsequent loss of the smaller town of Tal Afar and part of Raqqa which was the group’s capital in Syria.
The 46-year-old Baghdadi focuses on the threat that the West continues to face from the Islamic State and made an indirect reference to recent attacks on the underground train in London and in the heart of Barcelona. According to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks Islamic State propaganda, Baghdadi said in the recording, “America, Europe and Russia are living in a state of terror.” The recording was reportedly blasted out to Islamic State supporters in chat rooms on the messaging app Telegram. It begins with the voice of a narrator who introduces Baghdadi and adds, “May Allah protect him.” Experts pointed out that the phrase is used to refer to people who are still living and is intended to signal that Baghdadi is not dead. The audio also mentions current events, including the growing nuclear threat from North Korea.
Over the summer, the Russian military said that it had struck a meeting of Islamic State leaders in May near Raqqa, Syria, possibly killing him. In July this year, a British-based monitoring organization, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that senior Islamic State commanders had confirmed that Baghdadi had been killed in Deir al-Zour Province. However, last month, the American defense secretary, Jim Mattis said that he believed Baghdadi was still alive. Further, Pentagon officials have said that Baghdadi did not appear to be directing the Islamic State’s forces on a day-to-day basis, but his death would be a blow to the organization. Suffering downfall for months now, ISIS has been steadily losing territory recently in Iraq and Syria.
In July, ISIS lost Mosul in Iraq, which had been the largest city it controlled. Raqqa, which was the capital of the group’s self-declared caliphate too has been under siege by United States-backed forces for several months. The group was reported to have moved its leaders and administration out of the city. The U.S. has a bounty of $25 million on the head of Baghdadi for information leading to his capture or whereabouts. He has led the rise of the most brutal jihadist group in the world, one that has raped, beheaded and pillaged its way across Iraq and Syria, earning up to $1 billion in revenues in 2014. In July 2014, Baghdadi became one of the most wanted men in the world after he delivered an address during the month, from the pulpit of the Grand Al-Nuri Mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. In the speech, he declared the formation of the Islamic State, a self-proclaimed caliphate that would grow to become bigger than the size of Belgium.
ISIS leader Baghdadi resurfaces issues threat to the world
