Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in airstrike, say reports

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the chief of Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has been killed in Syria in the US-led coalition air strike, reports have said. Citing IS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq, Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak said that Baghdadi has died in an air raid on IS stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria.

According to the media reports, the statement published by Amaq claimed Islamic State's 'Caliph' Baghdadi died on Sunday. "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan," said the statement. However, there was no immediate comment from the coalition on the report.

Iraqi TV channel Al-Sumaria had said on Monday that a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul left Baghdadi wounded on Sunday.