A wanted man and how he became one
ABUBakr al-Baghdadi, known to his supporters as Amir al-Mu’minin, Caliph Ibrahim is emir, proclaimed as caliph.
He has been listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US State Department since 2011. The US has put forward a reward of up to $10 million (R111m) for information leading to his capture or death.
Only the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman alZawahiri, merits a larger reward ($25m).
After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Baghdadi helped to found the militant group Jamaat Jaysh Ahl al-Sunnah wa-lJamaah, in which he served as head of the sharia committee.
Islamic State was originally the Iraqi division of al-Qaeda, with al-Baghdadi announced as leader in May 2010, following the death of his predecessor.
As leader, al-Baghdadi was responsible for masterminding large-scale operations such as the August 2011 attack on the Umm al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad which killed Sunni lawmaker Khalid al-Fahdawi.
Following Osama bin Laden’s death in May 2011, al-Baghdadi released a statement threatening violent retaliation. In August 2011, a wave of Islamic State suicide attacks, raids, roadside bombs, small arms attacks and co-ordinated car bombings began in Iraq.
The Islamic State formally expanded into Syria last year, when it announced the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
On June 29 this year, it further announced the establishment of a caliphate. Al-Baghdadi was named its caliph and it was renamed Islamic State. – Wikipedia