https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-state-leader-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi/102910544/
Russia's military claimed Friday that it may have killed the Islamic State group leader in an airstrike in late May.
The country's defense ministry said it was verifying reports that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed on the southern outskirts of Syria’s Raqqa on May 28 along with other several senior commanders from the extremist group.
However, there was no independent confirmation and previous reports of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death have turned out to be false.
Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military's operational name for its actions against the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Iraq and Syria, said it could not confirm the report.
Russia's defense ministry said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed as he attended a meeting to discuss ISIS's withdrawal from Raqqa, its de facto capital.
"The strike, carried out by Su-35 and Su-34 jets, destroyed high-ranking commanders of the terrorist group, who were part of the so-called military council of the ISIS, and also some 30 middle ranking field commanders and up to 300 militants who were their bodyguards," the ministry said.
If Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death is confirmed it would be a major blow to the jihadist group and self-declared caliphate as it finds itself retreat across Iraq and Syria.
ISIS has been clinging on to Raqqa as well as Iraq's second-largest city Mosul despite U.S.-backed coalition forces' attempts to eject the group from both places.
It would also mark a major military success for Russia. It has conducted a military campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad since September 2015.
The U.S. State Department's Reward for Justice program has a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture or death.
"Under al-Baghdadi, (ISIS) has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Middle East, including the brutal murder of numerous civilian hostages from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Al-Baghdadi has taken credit for numerous terrorist attacks in Iraq since 2011, killing thousands of his fellow Iraqi citizens," the Reward for Justice's "Wanted" profile of him says.
Under his leadership, ISIS has also launched or taken credit for numerous terrorist attacks in Asia, Europe and the United States.
Al-Baghdadi is believed to have been born in 1971, in Samara, Iraq, and rose to prominence through his leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq, one of the militant groups from which ISIS emerged. He has been extremely careful to reveal very little about his true identity or whereabouts. Earlier this year, reports surfaced he has severely wounded in an airstrike near Syria's border with Iraq. The reports were never corroborated.
