Is Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead? Radio Iran claims so

Radio Iran has reported that Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead following injuries from an air strike against an Iraqi target last month. [caption id=“attachment_2215166” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. AP[/caption] While various Indian news agencies have carried the report following an alert from Radio Iran and a consequent update from All India Radio, there is yet to be an official confirmation from intelligence agencies involved in the operations or defence forces of countries that are involved in military operations against the Islamic State. If true, Baghdadi’s death is unlikely to significantly affect the terror group’s functioning given that he had reportedly withdrawn from playing an active role and was more of a figure head following the injuries from the air strike. Following a report in The Guardian that Baghdadi was injured, US forces said they have no reason to think that the Islamic State leader was wounded in the air strike that occurred last month, The Pentagon said last Tuesday. The Guardian had earlier reported that the militant, who styles himself caliph of the jihadists’ territory in Iraq and Syria, had been “seriously wounded” in an allied raid. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told reporters the report appears to have been “recycled” from a March story and that Baghdadi had not been a target of the raid in question. “We said that there was nothing to indicate that Baghdadi had been wounded or killed,” Warren said. “There’s nothing to indicate that there’s been a change.” There had been two previous reports in November and December last year of Baghdadi being wounded, though neither was accurate. US and allied Western and Arab forces are engaged in an air campaign against Baghdadi’s so-called Islamic State, a jihadist group that has seized cities in Syria and northern Iraq. US and Iranian-backed Iraqi forces and Shiite militias have made some progress in recent weeks against the Sunni militants, but the group has itself launched an offensive in western Iraq.   (AFP with additional inputs)