Syrian TV claims Isis leader killed

Unverified reports from Syrian state run TV claim that the leader of Isis (Islamic State) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air strike in the country.

The Isis stronghold of Raqqa was bombed heavily at the weekend with the terrorist group’s Amaq news agency revealing the damage.

In July 2014 Bakr al-Baghdadi, proclaimed a “caliphate” that covered territory in both Iraq and Syria.

False claims of his death have previously been reported.

Raqqa became a key city in Isis’ self-declared caliphate, a hub for the organisation’s activities and attacks in Syria, Iraq and further afield.

Isis took over all levels of civil administration, rewriting school curriculums, establishing Islamic courts and creating police units to implement Islamic law.

In April a documentary claimed the world’s most wanted man, who has a bounty of A$34 million on his head, avoided capture by Iraqi special forces “by minutes” after escaping through a trapdoor. That revelation came just days after alBaghdadi’s deputy Ayad al-Jumaili was killed in an air strike.

In March US and Iraq authorities believed al-Baghdadi had abandoned his fighters and gone into hiding as Iraqi forces continued to make inroads into Mosul. Raqqa has long been seen as a prize by multiple parties to the Syrian conflict.

Last week, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed ArabKurdish alliance, said its forces entered the city from the eastern district of Al-Meshleb. The US-led coalition has been backing the SDF with air strikes, equipment and special forces advisers.