New information says that the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, probably was not hit in the Iraqi airstrike carried out on Sunday, according to The Independent.
Iraq released a statement Sunday saying they successfully launched an airstrike against a convoy carrying Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State. A new statement released Monday, however, says he was probably not in the convoy after all. "After assessing all information we received from our sources, it's more likely that the convoy we struck was not carrying Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," a senior Iraqi security official said.
At least eight ISIS commanders were killed in the Sunday strikes, but Bakr al-Baghdadi was not among them. This is not the first time the leader of ISIS has been declared killed by unconfirmed stories, according to The Daily Mail. The U.S. and allies launched 24 airstrikes against ISIS on Sunday, 17 of which were in Iraq.
The U.S. military now believes that Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive, according to Fox News. Iraqi officials are collecting evidence and DNA from the site of the strikes to get more information. The convoy that was hit does appear to be the same as those which Bakr al-Baghdadi uses.
