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Did the Iraqi air force kill ISIL’s leader?
October 11, 2015, 9:07 pm

The Iraqi Air Force has been pounding several towns, such as Fallujah above, in Anbar in hopes of killing ISIL leaders. It said on Sunday that it had hit a convoy carrying ISIL's supreme leader [Xinhua]

The Iraqi Air Force has been pounding several towns, such as Fallujah above, in Anbar in hopes of killing ISIL leaders. It said on Sunday that it had hit a convoy carrying ISIL’s supreme leader [Xinhua]


The Iraqi Interior Ministry on Sunday said it had learned from eyewitness accounts that the leader of the Islamic State had been wounded in an air raid targeting his motorcade in western Iraq.

A ministry spokesperson said the attack, which targeted ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi as he traveled from Mosul to Anbar to meet with the groups leaders, was carried out by the Iraqi Air Force on Saturday.

The statement said that Al Baghdadi was seen being removed on a stretcher from Karabala, the town where the air strike was carried out. The Iraqi military said its fighter jets also destroyed the house where the meeting with ISIL leaders was meant to be held.

But other eyewitnesses in the town near the Syrian border said Al Baghdadi may not have even been in the convoy.

ISIL has not commented on the interior ministry report, but some if its supporters on social media said the self-styled “caliphate” would survive even if Al Baghdadi were killed.

Al Baghdadi was previously announced status unknown after an air raid was reported to have killed him in May.

He has rarely been seen in public.

The confusion surrounding Al Baghdadi comes as the Iraqi military, backed by Hashd Shaabi Shia militias, and Sunni tribesmen continue to pound ISIL positions in the Anbar capital of Ramadi, ahead of a full-scale assault to retake the city.

Meanwhile, the US-led coalition announced on Sunday that it had flown 24 combat missions against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.

Russia said it had destroyed 63 Islamist extremist targets in 64 sorties.

The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies