MORE: ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi was reportedly taking part in a meeting that was hit by Russian airstrike – MoD https://t.co/qorjdQyR94 pic.twitter.com/3UaBUNxiAA
— RT (@RT_com) 2017年6月16日
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday it is checking on information indicating that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was reportedly killed in a Russia-led airstrike in Syria.
Russian Su-34 aircraft and an Su-35 multirole fighter carried out airstrikes near the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria on May 28, the ministry said. The strikes targeted a meeting of high-ranking Islamic State chiefs where Al- Baghdadi was reportedly present.
The meeting was gathered to plan “routes for the exit of militants from Raqqa through the so-called ‘southern corridor’,” the statement read.
“According to information, which is being checked through various channels, IS leader Ibrahim Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi was also present at the meeting and was killed as a result of the strike,” the ministry said in a statement.
Among those who were killed in the strike were Emir of Raqqa Abu al-Haji al-Masri, Emir Ibrahim al-Naef al-Hajj, “who controlled the district from the city of Raqqa to the settlement of es-Sohne” and IS head of security Suleiman al-Sawah,” the ministry added.
Moscow has given its American partners information about the place and time of the airstrike, the ministry said.
The US-led anti-Islamic State coalition said it can’t confirm the information that Baghdadi was killed in a Russia-led airstrike.
“We cannot confirm these reports at this time,” Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTFOIR), said in a statement to AP.
Although numerous media reports have speculated on al-Baghdadi’s death, neither the Pentagon, nor the Iraqi or Syrian militaries have ever confirmed those claims.
The latest report, which came in early June, claimed that the notorious IS leader had been killed in an airstrike in Raqqa. No official confirmation followed, however.
Born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri, al-Baghdadi made his first public appearance back in the summer of 2014, when IS began capturing territory in Iraq and later in Syria.
The terrorist group has repeatedly released messages allegedly sent by Al-Baghdadi calling for the establishment of a world Caliphate.
The US Department of State has designated al-Baghdadi as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).
シリア空爆でIS指導者死亡の可能性─ロシア国防省=通信社 https://t.co/ubeEA0yXdf pic.twitter.com/BirbOymTqt
— ロイター.co.jp (@Reuters_co_jp) 2017年6月16日
ロシア国防省は16日、シリアの都市ラッカ周辺で5月下旬に実施した空爆で過激派組織「イスラム国」(IS)指導者のバグダディ容疑者が死亡した可能性があるとの情報について確認していると明らかにした。複数のロシア通信社が伝えた。
報道によると、空爆はIS指導者の会合を狙って5月28日に行われた。
RIA通信は国防省の発表として「様々な経路で現在確認中の情報によると、会合にはIS指導者のバグダディ容疑者も出席しており、空爆により同容疑者は殺害された」と伝えた。
ISのバグダディ指導者殺害の可能性についてロシア国防省の発表のポイント:ラッカの南でIS指導者の会合があるとの情報を把握。5月28日、Su-35とSu-34による攻撃を実施。会合にバグダディが出席していて殺害されたとの情報があり、確認中。攻撃については事前に米側にも通報していた。
— Akiyoshi Komaki 駒木明義 (@akomaki) 2017年6月16日
速報。ラブロフ外相「バグダディ殺害について、100%の確証はない」
— Akiyoshi Komaki 駒木明義 (@akomaki) 2017年6月16日