IS leader dead: claim

THE Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor says it has information from top Islamic State group leaders confirming the death of the jihadist organisation’s chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The US-led coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq said it could not confirm the report.

“Top tier commanders from IS who are present in Deir Ezzor province have confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, emir of the Islamic State group, to the Observatory,” the monitor’s director Rami Abdul Rahman said.

“We learned of it today but we do not know when he died or how.”

US President Donald Trump tweeted shortly after the news broke that there had been “big wins against ISIS!”

There was no official confirmation or denial of the news on social media platforms used by IS. The US-led coalition said it could not verify the Observatory’s report.