Source: indiatoday.intoday.in

Islamic State (IS) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Radio Iran has claimed that Islamic State (IS) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. The Guardian had earlier reported that al-Baghdadi was severely injured in a US-led coalition air strike in March.

According to the report, al-Baghdadi was injured at al-Baaj district of Nineveh, close to the Syrian border. It also said he was making a slow recovery and was out of his day-to-day control of the jehadist group.

Al-Baghdadi, believed to be in his 40s, had a $10 million US bounty on his head. Since taking over the reins of the IS in 2010, which he had transformed from a local branch of the al-Qaeda into an independent transnational military force, positioning himself as perhaps the pre-eminent figure in the global jehadist community.