Report: IS leader may be in eastern Syrian city of Boukamal
BEIRUT — A media outlet linked to the Syrian military said Friday that the Islamic State group’s leader may be holed up in an IS pocket in the eastern town of Boukamal, which government forces and their allies recaptured this week before losing parts of it later.
The claim was denied by Syrian opposition activists who said the government is trying to make up for losses it suffered in Boukamal when large parts were retaken by the extremists again on Friday.
The whereabouts of al-Baghdadi are not known and if he is killed or captured it would be another blow for the organization that has lost more than 90 per cent of lands it once controlled in Iraq and Syria where the group declared a caliphate in June 2014.
Al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts and the question of whether he is dead or alive have been a continuing source of mystery and confusion.