Russia has no information on Baghdadi’s fate: official

Team Udayavani, Jun 22, 2017, 5:55 PM IST

Moscow (Russia): Russia said today it has no information on the fate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the chief of the Islamic State terror group, nearly a week after the Russian military said it may have killed him in an airstrike.

“I have got nothing (to report),” the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said when asked to comment on the possible death of Baghdadi in Syria last month.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has no information on the fate of the Islamic State’s leader al-Baghdadi, Zakharova was quoted as saying by the official Tass news agency.

Her comments came two days after the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said the liquidation of al- Baghdadi has not yet been confirmed.

Last Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that Baghdadi had been presumably killed by the airstrike on Raqqa’s southern suburbs carried out by Russian warplanes.

According to the ministry, the airstrike was conducted on May 28 on a command post where the Islamic State leaders were discussing exit routes for militants from Raqqa through the so-called southern corridor.

US defense officials last week said they were unable to confirm the reports about Baghdadi’s death.

There have been a number of previous reports of Baghdadi’s death or him being critically injured by US-led coalition air strikes.

Baghdadi has not been seen in public since proclaiming himself “caliph” in the Iraqi city of
Mosul three years ago.

In October 2011, the US officially designated Baghdadi as a “terrorist”. It has offered a reward of up to USD 25 million for information leading to his capture or death.

The ISIS terror group is known for imposing a hard-line form of Islam that has included stonings, amputations and beheadings.