© social Media website/Reuters TV / ReutersAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Comment: First he was reported killed, then entirely absent (see Sputnik's report below). Now al-Baghdadi is reported as injured. Whatever the case, something is brewing on the border of Iraq and Syria. In addition to the new information below, Sputnik adds:
"Al-Baghdadi was wounded and currently is at a hospital of Al-Qaim. The hospital is encircled by the [ISIL] group's militants," a source told Sputnik.FARS News Agency reports (Oct. 14):
"The CIA has drone coordination with the Turkish intelligence organization to transfer al-Baghdadi to Turkey," the Arabic-language al-Manar TV quoted unnamed sources as saying on Wednesday. The source said that two companions of al-Baghdadi who were also injured in the attack on the ISIL leader's convoy and were captured by the Iraqi forces have confirmed that al-Baghdadi has been injured in the Sunday attack.
A military statement by the Iraqi Army announced on Sunday that the Iraqi air force had bombed the convoy of al-Baghdadi while he was heading to Al-Karable to attend a meeting with ISIL commanders. Al-Karable is the Subdistrict in the West of the Al Anbar province of Iraq, beside the Syrian border in an area of high ground.
On Sunday, Spokesman of Iraqi joint forces announced that the ISIL leader had been injured and over two dozen more Takfiri terrorists killed in the Iraqi army's airstrike on their convoy in Anbar province. Al-Baghdadi was injured in the Iraqi airstrike on his convoy on Sunday and was transferred to another place by his forces, the spokesman said. He also said that 25 other ISIL terrorists who were accompanying al-Baghdadi were killed in the airstrike.
Iraq's Air Force struck the convoy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as he was about to meet with the terror group's top commanders, Reuters cited a military statement. The Baghdad Information Center has confirmed that the strike injured al-Baghdadi.
"Iraqi air forces have bombed the convoy of the terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi while he was heading to Karabla to attend a meeting with Daesh [ISIS] commanders," read the initial military statement cited by Reuters.
The military gave no information about the fate of the terrorist leader.
Al-Baghdadi was "wounded" in the airstrike, while three of his deputies were killed, Iranian news agency IRNA claimed, citing an informed source.
According to the source, the dead included Abu Saed al-Karbuli, a top terrorist commander, and another leading Islamic State figure, a Georgian-born Chechen known by the name of Abu Omar al-Shishani. The source described al-Shishani as having been "in charge of Daesh [ISIS] propagations." The report of the commanders' death has not been officially verified as of yet.
The Baghdad Information Center confirmed reports that al-Baghdadi and some of his top commanders had been injured late on Sunday, but refuted earlier claims that warlord al-Karbuli was killed. The center is a joint intelligence sharing project founded and run by Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was injured in the bombing that targeted his motorcade," the Baghdad Information Center said in a statement quoted by Sputnik news agency.
Hospital sources and local residents earlier told Reuters that eight senior local IS figures were killed in the airstrikes which hit two houses. However, they said al-Baghdadi wasn't among the killed. A Twitter account that publishes statements from IS claimed on Sunday that Baghdadi hadn't been targeted in the airstrike.
RT's original lead-in:The convoy was attacked on Sunday in western Anbar province, at a location not far from the Syrian border, where Baghdadi was known to be meeting Islamic State commanders.
Iraq's Air Force has struck the convoy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but his fate is unknown, says a military statement cited by Reuters.
"Iraqi air forces have bombed the convoy of the terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi while he was heading to Karabla to attend a meeting with Daesh [ISIS] commanders," the statement read.
The military gave no information about the fate of the terrorist leader.
Hospital sources and local residents have told Reuters that ISIS leaders were killed in the airstrike, but that al-Baghdadi wasn't among them.
"The location of the meeting was also bombed and many of the group's leaders were killed and wounded. The fate of the murderer al-Baghdadi is unknown and he was carried away by a vehicle. His health condition is still unclear," the military said, according to Reuters.
Reports of al-Baghdadi being killed or deposed as Islamic State leader have emerged before, and his whereabouts have remained unknown for long periods of time.
According to a report in May, his spine was seriously wounded in an airstrike by the anti-ISIS coalition, which left him incapacitated. However, a few days later an audiotape of al-Baghdadi urging Muslims to join his self-proclaimed"caliphate" in Iraq and Syria was released.
Islamic State (formerly ISISISIL) has seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, and has forged alliances with other militant groups in the Middle East. Last June, the terrorist organization proclaimed itself to be a worldwide caliphate, and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi began to be referred to as caliph by his followers.
Update: Sputnik writes:
Several leaders of the Islamic State were killed in an airstrike conducted by the Iraqi Air Force, but "caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is not among them, Reuters reports citing an Iraqi hospital source.
Earlier it was reported that the Iraqi Air Forces had attacked a convoy of the Islamic State jihadist group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in the Iraqi western Anbar province. His fate had been unknown.
The local Shafaq News portal reported citing the Iraqi army's statement that the airstrike had been carried after the intelligence received information on al-Baghdadi's route to a meeting with the leadership of the terrorist organization.
Comment: Perhaps Iraq seems to be moving out from under Washington's thumb?