Russia on Friday said it was verifying whether the elusive ISIS terror group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a targeted Russian airstrike in strife-torn Syria last month.
The airstrike was carried out on May 28 on the outskirts of the dreaded terrorist group’s de facto capital Raqqa, on a command post where ISIS leaders were meeting, according to Russian state media reports.
“According to information, which is being verified via different channels, the meeting was also attended by the (ISIS) leader Ibrahim Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was eliminated in the strike,” the Ministry said, according to the TASS news agency.
The leaders were discussing their exit from the city through the so-called southern corridor, the Ministry said.
The airstrike was carried out following drone footage confirmation of the council’s meeting location, state-run Sputnik reported.
Other state media reported that more than 300 “terrorists” were killed in the strike. There have been a number of previous reports of Baghdadi’s death. This is the first time, however, that Russia has said it may have killed the ISIS leader. Other media reports have previously claimed he had been killed or critically injured by US-led coalition airstrikes.
Reacting to the report, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey lavrov told journalists that there is no one-hundred-per cent confirmation yet that leader of the ISIS terror group outlawed in Russia, al-Baghdadi, has been killed.
“So far, I have no one-hundred-per cent confirmation of this information,” lavrov said.
US defence officials said they were unable to confirm the reports. Col Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition’s operation against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said the coalition “cannot confirm these reports at this time.”
There has been no official comment from Syria’s Government, the BBC reported. So far, there has been minimal reaction from online supporters of ISIS to news of the reported death of the group’s leader, it said.
ISIS sympathisers typically ignore reports from unofficial IS sources or ridicule them, especially given that Baghdadi’s death has been reported several times in the past.
One high-profile ISIS supporter on the messaging app Telegram shared a post denying the news and saying that when an ISIS leadership figure is killed, the group does not hide it. He expected Baghdadi to come out soon with a message to prove he was still alive.
The ISIS has earned global notoriety for imposing a hardline form of Islam that has included stonings, beheadings and amputations.
Earlier, the The Russian army, in a statement, said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where ISIS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by terrorists from the group’s stronghold.