Was ISIS leader really killed in Syria? That is one of the questions that came up as reports said a number of top ISIS militants had been killed on Friday as US-led coalition airstrikes blasted a moving Islamic State convoy near Mosul in northern Iraq.
Iraqi officials reported the airstrikes took place near the Iraqi town of Mosul near the Syrian border that destroyed a vehicle convoy of 10 armed trucks. According to Fox News, the airstrikes was believed to have targeted a gathering of ISIS leaders in Iraq. However, the defense official was unable to confirm if ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present.
"This strike demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the ISIL terrorist network and the group's increasingly limited freedom to maneuver, communicate and command," a defense official said.
For weeks, the United States has been launching airstrikes on ISIS militants and facilities and Iraq and Syria as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive. And the incident on Friday that could have killed ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi, is one of the offensive that Western troops are instigating in helping Iraqi troops to defeat the vicious jihadists.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been proclaimed by the Islamic State militant as "caliph" or supreme leader of the vast areas of territory in Iraq and Syria under its control and demanded that all Muslims pledge loyalty to him. He is an ambitious Iraqi militant thought to be in his early 40s and has a $10 million bounty on his head.
Since taking headship of the terrorist group in 2010, al-Baghdadi has changed it from a local branch of Al-Qaeda into a self-governing large-scale military force, placing himself as perhaps the pre-important figure in the global jihadi community.
However, reports said the ISIS leader could have been killed in a blast that occurred in Mosul, near the border in Syria. The Guardian reported he might be one of the 50 casualties in the ten vehicles targeted. In July, al-Baghdadi made a rare public appearance at a mosque in Mosul.
"I can confirm that coalition aircraft did conduct a series of airstrikes yesterday evening [Friday] in Iraq against what was assessed to be a gathering of Isil [ISIS] leaders near Mosul," US Central Command spokesperson Colonel Patrick Ryder said. "We cannot confirm if Isil leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present."
Ryder further explained the airstrikes destroyed the convoy consisted of 10 ISIS armed trucks that demonstrated the pressure the US forces continue to place on the Islamic State terrorist network. Meanwhile, an Iraqi official said 50 bodies of ISIS insurgents were brought to the Mosul morgue after the airstrikes.
The US-led coalition airstrikes had targeted a gathering of ISIS leaders in al-Qaim, northwest of Baghdad near the border of Syria. The attack killed tens of people and wounded many more, Anbar province MP Mohammad al-Karbuli told Al Arabiya News Channel. Karbuli also said chaos arose with ISIS militants scrambling to transport their injured members to al-Qaim hospital which was overwhelmed with the number of patients.
According to sources, the airstrikes targeted a house where senior ISIS officers were meeting, near al-Qaim, as reported by Reuters. The sources added ISIS fighters had cleared a hospital so that their wounded could be treated. And ISIS fighters used loudspeakers to urge residents to donate blood.
Residents said there were unconfirmed reports that ISIS' local leader and his deputy were killed in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, which shares borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Though fighters had targeted the convoy near a border in Syria, and against small ISIS units elsewhere, the official stressed US-led strikes had not targeted an Islamic State gathering where ISIS leaders believed to be present.
In spite of the US-led coalition airstrikes, Sunni militants have also continued launching deadly attacks targeting Iraqi forces and civilians. Iraqi officials said Saturday that a suicide truck bomber hit the convoy of a top Iraqi police officer killing eight people, including the ranking official. The attack was said to bore the trademarks of ISIS militants.
Meanwhile, a series of bombings in and around the capital, Baghdad, occurred on Saturday had killed at least 43 people. It was the deadliest explosion hitting the city's sprawling Shiite district of Sadr City, where a car bomb ripped through a commercial area, killing 11 people and wounding 21.
On the other hand, the ISIS militants did not immediately issue any statement on the airstrikes in Mosul, near the Syrian border, that could have possibly injured and killed its notorious leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. However, in an Iraqi News report, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed Al-Adnani confirmed through a social media post that their leader has been injured, without identifying the seriousness or timing of the injury.
"The leader of the ISIL Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been injured," he wrote on Twitter.
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