IS chief reportedly trapped as Iraqi army enters Mosul
BARTALLA,IRAQ: Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been trapped by the Iraqi Army, which entered Mosul for the first time since 2014 for a final assault, a report has claimed.
The battle for Mosul, where the self-declared caliph of IS is believed to be hiding, is likely to end in a decisive defeat for the terrorist group, the Independent reported citing Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani.
Hussein told the daily that his government had information from multiple sources that “Baghdadi is there and, if he is killed, it will mean the collapse of the whole (IS) system.”
Baghdadi has kept himself concealed for the last eight or nine months according to Hussein, who added the caliph had become very dependent on IS commanders from Mosul and Tal Afar, a city just to the west of Mosul. Other senior and better known figures in IS, particularly from Syria and other countries, have been killed since their initial triumphs in the summer of 2014, when they took over much of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.
The presence of Baghdadi in Mosul may complicate and prolong the battle for the city as his surviving adherents fight to the death to defend him.
If he is killed, IS would have to choose a new caliph in the middle of a battle, but no successor would have the authority and prestige of Baghdadi, who surprised the world by establishing the caliphate after capturing Mosul in June 2014. Iraqi forces fought their way into jihadist-held Mosul on Tuesday, the military said just over two weeks into the massive offensive to retake IS’s last major stronghold in Iraq.