“‘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.” Baghdadi has been wounded and killed before. Radio Iran reported that he was dead last April. And he was severely injured and incapacitated in July 2014. Amid all these wild and unreliable reports, the Islamic State keeps advancing.
“Islamic State figures killed in airstrike; Baghdadi not believed among them,” Reuters, October 11, 2015:
BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Eight senior figures from the Islamic State were killed in an airstrike while meeting in a town in western Iraq, but the group’s reclusive leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, did not appear to be among them, residents of the town and hospital sources said.
Iraq said Sunday its air force had hit the meeting and also struck a convoy that was carrying Baghdadi to attend it. Iraq 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 airstrikes 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 that publishes statements from Islamic State said “rumors” that an airstrike had targeted Baghdadi were false….
“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….