RUSSIA: WE’VE ELIMINATED AL-BAGHDADI
Kremlin claim to have blown up Isis madman-in-chief and 300 fanatics
RUSSIA is claiming to have killed the supreme leader of the so-called Islamic state.
The defence ministry in Moscow wrote on their Facebook page yesterday that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died more than two weeks ago in an air strike.
They also claimed to have killed 30 of his commanders – including senior leaders – and 300 Isis fighters in the attack on a suburb of the death cult’s “capital”, Raqqa in Syria.
The Russians said the fanatics were meeting to discuss how to flee the city, which is under attack by anti-Isis forces.
They said they found out about the meeting and attacked it with Su-34 bombers and Su-35 fighter jets just after midnight on May 27. The post said they did reconnaissance with drones before the raid.
It added: “According to information being verified through various channels, Baghdadi attended the meeting and was killed.”
If the claims are true, it would be a massive coup for the Russians and a bodyblow to the fanatics. Their so-called caliphate is already shrinking rapidly under pressure from Iraqi and Kurdish ground forces and a US-led air coalition of countries including Britain.
But it’s by no means certain Baghdadi is dead. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov admitted: “I do not have 100 per cent confirmation.”
Baghdadi last appeared in public in 2014 and has been in hiding ever since.
Some will question whether he would have risked attending a large meeting like the one described, which was bound to attract attention, in a city already under constant attack from the air.
Russian news outlets are known for putting out propaganda to demoralise Isis fighters. Several previous reports of Baghdadi’s death have turned out to be false.