Islamic State chief Baghdadi likely still alive – U.S. general

Agence France-Presse

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Islamic State chief Baghdadi likely still alive – U.S. general

AFP

'We're looking for him every day. I don't think he's dead,' says Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, commander of the counter-ISIS coalition in Iraq and Syria

WASHINGTON DC, USA – Elusive Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS or the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is probably still alive and likely hiding in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, a senior US general said Thursday, August 31.

“We’re looking for him every day. I don’t think he’s dead,” Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, commander of the counter-ISIS coalition in Iraq and Syria, told reporters in a conference call.

Townsend admitted he didn’t “have a clue” where Baghdad is precisely, but believes he may have fled with many other ISIS soldiers into the Middle Euphrates region stretching from Syria to Iraq, after coalition and local force assaults on the ISIS bastions of Mosul, Raqa and Tal Afar.

“The last stand of ISIS will be in the Middle Euphrates River Valley,” Townsend said.

“When we find him, I think we’ll just try to kill him first. It’s probably not worth all the trouble to try and capture him.”

With a $25 million US bounty on his head, Iraq-born Baghdadi has successfully avoided an intense effort to seek him out for 6 years or more.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a longtime conflict monitor, said in mid-June that it had heard from senior ISIS leaders in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province that Baghdadi was dead.

Russia’s army said in mid-June that it was seeking to verify whether it had killed him in a May air strike in Syria.

“I’ve seen no convincing evidence, intelligence, or open-source or other rumor or otherwise that he’s dead…. There are also some indicators in intelligence channels that he’s still alive,” said Townsend. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!