Islamic State Chief Al Baghdadi Is Dead, Says Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

A day after Iraq declared it had driven the jehadis from their one-time biggest stronghold of Mosul, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) has said that Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, leader of terror outfit Islamic State (IS), is dead.

The war monitor, which is typically seen as a reliable source of information, said it had inputs from a top IS leaders confirming Al Baghdadi’s death.

“Top tier commanders from IS who are present in Deir Ezzor province have confirmed the death of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi to the Observatory,” the monitoring group’s director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The group did not cite a source, though Agence France-Press reported that the claim was based on high-level IS sources. However, IS’s media channels dismissed the account. The news comes two weeks after Russian Defence Ministry said that their air raids may have killed Al Baghdadi near the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa.

Although US President Donald Trump called it a ‘big win against IS,’ the Pentagon and the Kurdish and Iraqi sources presently fighting IS on the ground were all quick to say they could not corroborate the SOHR report.

“We have no information to corroborate those reports,” US Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, has said.

With Inputs From ANI.