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| Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead: Russia says it may have killed Isis leader in Raqqa air strike | Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead: Russia says it may have killed Isis leader in Raqqa air strike |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Russian defence ministry says it believes it may have killed the Isis leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in an air strike south of Raqqa, Syria. In a statement, the ministry said it was still seeking confirmation following the strike in late May. | The Russian defence ministry says it believes it may have killed the Isis leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in an air strike south of Raqqa, Syria. In a statement, the ministry said it was still seeking confirmation following the strike in late May. |
| The air strike targeted a meeting of Isis leaders on 28 May, Russian news agencies cited the defence ministry as saying. | The air strike targeted a meeting of Isis leaders on 28 May, Russian news agencies cited the defence ministry as saying. |
| "According to the information which is now being checked via various channels, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was eliminated by the air strike, was also present at the meeting," RIA news agency quoted the ministry as saying. | "According to the information which is now being checked via various channels, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was eliminated by the air strike, was also present at the meeting," RIA news agency quoted the ministry as saying. |
| The statement claimed the 28 May strike killed around 30 mid-level Isis leaders and another 300 fighter, during a meeting of Isis's "military council" on the southern outskirts of Raqqa. The jihadi group's de-facto capital is surrounded to the north, east and west by advancing Syrian rebel and Kurdish forces backed by the US-led coalition. | |
| Russia said multiple Su-24 and Su-25 aircraft were involved in the strike, acting upon intelligence captured by drone footage. It said it had informed the US in advance of the strike. | |
| Baghdadi rose to international prominence when he declared the territories occupied by the Isis militancy a so-called "caliphate" during a rare public appearance in Mosul in the summer of 2014. | |
| There have been multiple previous unverified reports of his death. In mid-June, a doctored online statement purporting to be from Isis's Amaq news agency claimed Baghdadi had been killed in a US air strike. | |
| In March, the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said "nearly all" Baghdadi's deputies had been killed as Isis's territory was squeezed in both Syria and Iraq. He said it was "only a matter of time before Baghdadi himself meets this same fate". |