Mosul hails death of ‘evil’ Baghdadi
SPEECH Baghdadi in 2014 Defence and Security Editor in Mosul with photographer Rowan Griffiths
JUBILANT Iraqis in liberated Mosul celebrate the death of hated Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
One city resident Yasser Samir Ahmed, who had watched as Baghdadi launched his hated caliphate at the city’s al-Nuri mosque in 2014, struggled to contain his relief.
The 25-year-old was overjoyed as he explained: “I cannot describe how happy I am to hear news this man is almost certainly dead.
“We are all extremely happy he has finally gone because of the evil he brought upon our country.
“When ISIS arrived, we did not expect that they would be this evil but, for three years, they were truly horrific. They murdered my family members and close friends.”
Yasser revealed two of his brothers, six of his cousins and two close friends had been slaughtered by ISIS. But he was too emotional to provide any further details.
The al-Nuri, from where Baghdadi made that ill-fated speech, now lies in ruins, just like his plans for ruling Iraq, Syria and other areas of the Middle East.
Yasser had arrived in 2014 at the 850-year-old mosque as part of his daily routine to pray — but witnessed the surprise visit and proclamation by Baghdadi.
He had agreed to talk face to face in Mosul yesterday but we were unable to pass through heavily manned checkpoints put up inside the city to stop any ISIS counter-attacks. Yet in a telephone interview, Yasser said: “May god punish Baghdadi in the next life for what he has done.
“He destroyed our city, our way of life and us. I hope peace will now return once again to Mosul, my city, now that they have all gone.”
America had put a £20million bounty on Baghdadi’s head — only ever matched by the reward for EMOTION Yasser Osama bin Laden and his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Now the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a reliable British-based monitoring group, insists the ISIS leader was killed weeks ago as his fighters were surrounded in Mosul.
SOHR chief Rami Abdulrahman said: “We have confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank who is Syrian, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor.” He explained that activists working with him had been told by ISIS sources that Baghdadi had died, but they were not told when or how.
The Pentagon has not been able yet to confirm those claims.
The news on Baghdadi came as the Iraqi army recaptured the last sectors of Mosul after a bloody battle lasting eight months. The Daily Mirror had witnessed its final moments on Sunday in the ruined Old City.
Yesterday, the Iraqi troops hunted for wounded ISIS fighters amid the rubble. The loss of Mosul and the siege of Raqqa, ISIS’s capital in Syria, by a US-backed, Kurdish-led force is a massive blow to the jihadists.
The death of Baghdadi is another huge set-back as ISIS totters on the brink of defeat in both countries.