Islamic State leader ‘still alive’
A TOP Kurdish counter-terrorism official is 99% sure Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive and located south of the Syrian city of Raqqa, despite reports that he had been killed.
“Baghdadi is definitely alive. He is not dead. We have information that he is alive. We believe 99% he is alive,” Lahur Talabany said in an interview.
“Don’t forget his roots go back to al-Qaeda days in Iraq. He was hiding from security services. He knows what he is doing.”
The secretive Islamic State leader has frequently been reported killed or wounded since he climbed up to the pulpit of a mosque in Mosul in 2014 and declared a caliphate with himself the leader of all Muslims.
After leading his fighters on a sweep through northern Iraq, Baghdadi attempted to create a selfsustaining caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.
He was now a man on the run, but still a cunning foe, Talabany said.
As part of the international coalition against the Islamic State, Talabany has been at the forefront of efforts to track Baghdadi down.
“He is not an easy figure. He has years of experience in hiding and getting away from the security services,” Talabany said.
“The territory they control is very tough territory. It is still not the end of the game for Isil, even though they have lost almost all of Mosul and they are getting ready to lose Raqqa as well.”
Iraqi security forces have ended three years of Islamic State rule in the Iraqi city of Mosul, and the group is under growing pressure in Raqqa, former strongholds in the militants’ crumbling caliphate.
Talabany said the Islamic State was now shifting tactics despite low morale and it would take three or four years to eliminate the group as it took to the mountains and deserts to stage hit-and-run attacks and unleash suicide bombers.