WASHINGTON – Mysterious ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was wounded in anairstrike in May last year and had to relinquish control of the dreadedterror group for up to five months, according to a media report today.
Citing several US officials, CNN reported that American intelligenceagencies have assessed with a high degree of confidence that the world’smost wanted man was near Raqqa, Syria in May when the missile struck.
Their assessment is based on reports from ISIS detainees and refugees inNorthern Syria that emerged months after the airstrike, the officials added.
Baghdadi’s injuries were not considered life-threatening but they did meanhe could not continue to command the daily operations of the group, thereport said.
At the time, ISIS was about to lose control of the Iraqi city of Mosul andits so-called capital Raqqa had been nearly encircled by US-backed forces.
It is unclear whether Baghdadi was hit in a targeted attack or if he was”collateral damage,” the report said.
It is also unclear who fired the missile. US officials do not know theexact date of the strike so are unsure if a Coalition aircraft wasinvolved, or whether Baghdadi’s injury was the result of a Russian missile.
“There have been isolated strikes by Russians in Raqqa, but as there’s notimeline for it, we don’t know if it’s ours,” a US official said.
It is believed the airstrike occurred close to the date offered by theRussian military in June when they claimed to have killed or injured theISIS leader.
At the time, Russia’s Defence Ministry said it was investigating reportsBaghdadi had been killed in an airstrike on May 28, on the outskirts ofRaqqa, the group’s primary stronghold, which US-backed forces took back inOctober.
Analysts warned at the time reports of Baghdadi’s death should be treatedwith scepticism given the high number of previous false reports.
Baghdadi has made only one public appearance, in July 2014, in the al-NuriMosque in Mosul, which was retaken by Iraqi security forces in June lastyear.
ISIS has since released various audio messages it claims to be of Baghdadi,most recently in September last year which appeared to contain a referenceto news events that showed it had been recorded since the Russian claims ofhis death.
The US-backed campaign is now focusing on the remaining pocket of territorycontrolled by ISIS — the stretch of desert along the Syrian-Iraqi border,known as Jazeera.
Various reports have suggested to US intelligence that this is whereBaghdadi would most likely be, although it is a vast and sparsely populatedarea, making his capture complex, the CNN report said.