The Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was seriously wounded by an Iraqi airstrike in the city of Al-Qa’im near the Syrian border, Sputnik reported, citing al-Hayat newspaper.
“His survival was a miracle,” the newspaper wrote citing Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi. The prime minister said Baghdadi has since “moved to another location.”
Earlier, it was reported that the terrorist leader had been wounded in an airstrike in Anbar province in November. The Guardian reported that coalition forces had carried out an airstrike on a convoy of vehicles, which killed a senior aide to the IS leader, Abdur Rahman al-Athaee.
However, an audio recording released later appears to be confirmation that the leader himself escaped the attack. Al-Baghdadi made his only previous public appearance in July, in a video taken in Mosul’s Great Mosque.
