Islamic State leader 'wounded in airstrike'
An airstrike has wounded the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to Iraqi officials.
Pentagon officials said they had no immediate information on such a strike or of al-Baghdadi being wounded.
Iraq’s Defence and Interior Ministries issued statements saying al-Baghdadi had been wounded, without giving further detail.
An Interior Ministry intelligence official said al-Baghdadi was hit during a meeting yesterday with militants in the town of Qaim in Iraq’s western Anbar province.
The official, citing informants within the militant group, said the strikes wounded al-Baghdadi.
A senior Iraqi military official also said he learned in operational meetings that al-Baghdadi had been wounded.
Neither knew the extent of al-Baghdadi’s apparent injuries.State television later also reported that al-Baghdadi had been wounded.
Al-Baghdadi, an ambitious Iraqi militant believed to be in his early 40s, has a US$10m bounty on his head.
Since taking the reins of the group in 2010, he has transformed it from a local branch of al -Qaida into an independent transnational military force, positioning himself as perhaps the pre-eminent figure in the global jihadi community.
A US-led coalition has been launching airstrikes on Islamic State militants and facilities in Iraq and Syria for months as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive.
The Islamic State had gained ground across northern and western Iraq in a lightning advance in June and July, causing several of Iraq’s army and police divisions to fall into disarray.
On Friday, US President Barack Obama authorised the deployment of up to 1,500 more American troops to bolster Iraqi forces, including into Anbar province, where fighting with Islamic State militants has been fierce.
The plan could boost the total number of American troops in Iraq to 3,100.
