Top Iraqi-Kurdish counter-terrorism official says he is ‘99% sure’ ISIL leader Al Baghdadi alive
A senior Iraqi-Kurdish counter-terrorism official said yesterday that he was 99 per cent ISIL leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi was alive, somewhere south of the Syrian city of Raqqa.
“We have information that he is alive. We believe 99 per cent he is alive,” said Lahur Talabany. “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 ISIL leader has frequently been reported killed since he declared a caliphate from the Grand Al Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014.
Moscow yesterday said it was also struggling to confirm if Al Baghdadi was dead or alive, a month after reporting his possible demise.
In June, the Russian army said it was trying to verify information that its jets had killed Al Baghdadi during a bombing near ISIL’s Raqqa stronghold.
But more than a month later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia still had “no more precise information” on Al Baghdadi’s fate.
“The information coming in is contradictory,” Mr Peskov said.
Al Baghdadi may now be a man on the run, if not dead, but he is still a cunning foe, said Mr Talabany.
The Kurdish Regional Government official, as part of the US-led coalition against ISIL, has been at the forefront of efforts to find Al Baghdadi.
“He is not an easy figure. He has years of experience in hiding and getting away from the security services,” Mr Talabany said.
Iraqi security forces ended three years of ISIL rule in Mosul and the group is under growing pressure in Raqqa.
Mr Talabany said ISIL was changing tactics, despite low morale, and that 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.
“They are getting ready for a different fight, I think,” he said. “We have a lot tougher days ahead of us than people think. Al Qaeda on steroids.”
Mr Talabany’s remarks came as US-backed Syrian fighters clashed with ISIL militants in the heart of Raqqa yesterday.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, aided by the US-led coalition, launched its offensive to capture the city on June 6, and has since taken several areas.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group in Britain, said yesterday’s fighting was concentrated in the south-west neighbourhood of Yarmouk and a central area close to the Old City.
The Syrian forces said 11 ISIL fighters had been killed in clashes since Sunday, while ISIL’s Amaq news agency said 14 SDF fighters had been killed in the clashes in Raqqa on Sunday.