Jump to content

Geo News Blog

  • entries
    149,373
  • comments
    28
  • views
    205,543

waqas dar

132 views

l_149444_080108_updates.jpg
149444_472430_updates.jpgDaesh chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - File Photo 

WASHINGTON: Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Friday he cannot confirm whether or not Daesh chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, after reports from Syria that the militant leader had been killed.

"If we knew, we would tell you -- right now, I can't confirm or deny it," Mattis said.

"Our approach is we assume he's alive until it's proven otherwise, and right now I can't prove it otherwise."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a longtime conflict monitor, said earlier this week it had heard from senior Daesh leaders in Syria's Deir Ezzor province that Baghdadi was dead.

There was no official confirmation or denial of the news on Daesh-run social media outlets.

"We'll go after him until he's gone," Mattis said.

There have been persistent rumours that Baghdadi has died in recent months.

Russia's army said in mid-June that it was seeking to verify whether it had killed the Daesh chief in a May air strike in Syria.

With a $25 million US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile but was rumored to move regularly throughout IS-held territory in Iraq and Syria.

The 46-year-old Iraqi has not been seen since making his only known public appearance as "caliph" in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul, which was destroyed in the battle for Iraq´s second city.


0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...