ISIS Leader Targeted, Possibly Killed Or Seriously Injured by U.S. Airstrike

It remained unclear on Sunday night whether top ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed following U.S. airstrikes that included him as the primary target, as well as other leaders. There was no confirmation from official channels whether or not al-Baghdadi was killed, even as news that emerged that the ISIS leader and other high-ranking militants in the organization were targeted with an airstrike that destroyed almost a dozen vehicles in a convoy on Friday.

On Sunday, numerous media outlets including the U.K.’s Guardian reported that al-Baghdadi may or may not have been hit in the attack near Mosul, in Iraq on Friday night. According to the Guardian, a senior Iraqi official said that another ISIS leader, Abdur Rahman al-Athaee, who also goes by the name of Abu Sajar, was killed in the attack.

Officials have told the Guardian and other publications that their reasoning in believing that there is any possibility that the number one ISIS leader might have been killed is due to Athaee’s presence. He was one of the leader’s right-hand men and was in touch with him on a frequent, nearly constant basis. There have been no other indications that the ISIS leader was killed, but it is possible that he was injured.

The U.S. airstrike targeted and hit a 10-car convoy southwest of Mosul, which is considered an ISIS stronghold since they overtook it in June. It is the second-largest city in Iraq and is a key city where ISIS leader al-Baghdadi and others have control of hugely important resources, including a hydroelectric dam.

Despite the number of vehicles hit in the airstrike, the U.S. has not been able to prove that their intended target was hit.

According to CNN, U.S. Col. Patrick Ryder told reporters over the weekend that he could not even confirm if al-Baghdadi was even in the convoy or not.

“I can confirm that coalition aircraft did conduct a series of airstrikes yesterday evening in Iraq against what was assessed to be a gathering of ISIL leaders near Mosul, destroying a vehicle convoy consisting of 10 ISIL armed trucks,” Ryder said. ISIL is another term used for ISIS.

Since the strike against the ISIS leader, jihadist forums have been silent about whether he was killed or not. If the ISIS leader was killed, most experts speculate that it would be very difficult to keep word of his condition silent because it would be impossible to control chatter on unofficial channels that are being monitored by the U.S. and others.

Late Sunday night, however, Arab media outlet Al Arabiya reported that the ISIS leader was not killed, but was “critically wounded.”

[Photo: screengrab]