IS leader has been killed by air strike, says Russia
RUSSIA yesterday claimed to have delivered a blow to Islamic State by killing its elusive leader in an air strike.
The Russian Defence Ministry said it was checking reports that a night raid by Su-35 and Su-34 jets killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria.
It said the raid killed up to 330 top IS commanders and their guards as they met in the south of their self-styled capital Raqqa.
US and Iraqi officials said they were sceptical about the report which would bolster the prestige of President Putin.
There have been several reports in the past that former Al Qaeda leader Baghdadi has been killed, including a claim earlier this week by Syrian TV.
The Russian Defence Ministry said it attacked a gathering of IS – also knows as Daesh – commanders on May 29 on the outskirts of Raqqa.
Devastating
It said: “On May 28, after drones were used to confirm the information on the place and time of the meeting of IS leaders, between 00:35 and 00:45, Russian air forces launched a strike on the command point where the leaders were located.
“According to the information which is now being checked via various channels, also present at the meeting was Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was eliminated as a result of the strike.”
Russia said the strike was believed to have killed several other senior IS leaders as well as around 30 field commanders and up to 300 of their guards.
Other IS figures said to have been killed include Emir of Raqqa Abu al-Haji al-Masri, Emir Ibrahim al-Naef al-Hajj and IS security chief Suleiman al-Sawah.
Although details of the raid were released by the Kremlin, officials admitted they could not confirm Baghdadi’s death.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted: “I do not have 100 per cent confirmation of the information about the elimination of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”
If true the strike will be a devastating blow to IS which is under siege in its last Iraqi stronghold, West Mosul, and is being surrounded in Raqqa.
After the announcement a Pentagon spokesman said: “We have no information to corroborate those reports.”
A European security official said: “His death has been reported so often that you have to be cautious till a formal Daesh statement comes.”
A colonel with the Iraqi national security service said that Baghdadi was not believed to have An Su-34 jet which could have killed Baghdadi, right been in Raqqa at the time of the strike. Also, Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said he understood Baghdadi to have been in another part of Syria at the end of May.
Baghdadi, who was last seen in public in 2014, is thought to be hiding along the desert border between Iraq and Syria.
He is said to be with a handful of close aides and evading surveillance by not using telecommunications equipment.