The ISIS leader was believed to have been "critically injured" during an air strike that was led by the US. The strike targeted the western Iraqi border town of al-Qaim, and tribal sources informed Al Arabiya News Channel last Saturday that the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hit.
The US Central Command confirmed in a statement that the US-led air strikes targeted the ISIS leaders who were located near their hub at the northern Iraqi portion of Mosul late last Friday. However, they failed to confirm if Baghdadi was, indeed, killed in the attack.
The US Central Command stated, "This strike demonstrates the pressure we continue to place on the ISIL [ISIS] terrorist network and the group's increasingly limited freedom to maneuver, communicate and command."
The MP of Anbar province, Mohammad al-Karbuli, informed Al Arabiya that the coalition aircraft that intended to hit the ISIS leader killed in al-Qaim killed tens of people and seriously injured many more of the terrorist group's members.
Karbuli added that the ISIS members scrambled to transport their wounded to the nearest hospital, which was also overwhelmed by a huge number of patients.
Two witnesses were also quoted by Reuters saying that the air strike from the United States hit a house where senior officers of the ISIS were believed to have been meeting.
According to the witnesses, the ISIS had cleared a hospital so that their wounded members could be treated. They even made use of loudspeakers to "urge" residents to donate blood so that their injured men, who have lost a lot of blood, can be transfused with new bags of blood.
Residents of the area have also mentioned that there were some unconfirmed reports that an ISIS leader killed. Plus, there are additional reports that his deputy has also been killed in the strike.
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