Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi

BAGHDAD: Iraq claimed yesterday to have struck a convoy carrying Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in an air raid near the Syrian border but said his fate was unknown. In Syria, meanwhile, regime troops backed by Russian air strikes made progress on two fronts but were battling other rebel groups. And Syria's opposition National Coalition said it will boycott UN-proposed peace talks, citing the Russian air strikes among a list of grievances.

Iraqi aircraft hit Baghdadi's convoy as it was "moving towards Karabla to attend a meeting of the Daesh (IS) terrorist leaders," an Iraqi security statement said. Karabla is on the Euphrates barely five kilometres (three miles) from the Syrian border in western Anbar, a vast Iraqi province which has long been a Sunni insurgent stronghold. The statement issued by Iraq's "war media cell" said Baghdadi was "transported in a vehicle" after the strike but added that "his health status was unknown".

The meeting place was also struck in the operation and several IS leaders already gathered there were killed or wounded, it said. Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan told AFP that "the strike was yesterday (Saturday) at noon". In Washington, a US military official said: "We've seen the Iraqi statement about Al-Baghdadi but have no info that confirms it."

Baghdadi's death would give the war against the most violent jihadist organization in modern history a much-needed boost, but such claims have been made in the past. Baghdadi's apparent survival following similar claims, including one in Nov 2014 of a strike in the same area, has only added to his mystique. The Iraqi jihadist chief is said to have been born in Samarra in 1971, but little is known about the man with a $10 million US bounty on his head.

Baghdadi apparently joined the insurgency after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, at one point spending time in an American military prison in the country's south. His whereabouts have been the subject of constant speculation since his only public appearance as IS chief last year, at a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul days after the proclamation of a cross-border "caliphate".

A coalition led by the United States, which occupied Iraq for eight years before withdrawing in 2011, began air strikes against IS in August last year. More than 7,000 strikes later, IS has conceded some of territory it took last year but has held its ground in other areas and even made fresh conquests, such as the city of Ramadi in Iraq and Palmyra in Syria. Russia joined the fray on Sept 30, launching an air campaign it said would target IS, but most of its efforts seem focused on protecting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. - AFP