Islamic State says leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died west of Mosul; new chief to be announced soon

Baghdad: The Islamic State (IS) militant group has declared that its supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has died, the media reported on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3732777” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Reuters[/caption] The extremist group said it will soon announce a successor to Baghdadi. “Daesh organisation (IS) circulated a brief statement through its media in the (IS-held) town of Tal Afar in the west of Mosul, confirming the killing of its leader al-Baghdadi without giving further details,” Xinhua news agency cited Iraqi news agency al-Sumaria News as saying. “Daesh called on the (IS) militants to continue their steadfastness in the redoubts of the caliphate and not being dragged behind the sedition,” the report said. The report came a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi formally declared Mosul liberated from the IS after nearly nine months of fierce fighting to dislodge the extremist militants from their last major stronghold in Iraq. Mosul, 400 km north of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, came under IS control in June 2014, when government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq’s northern and western regions.