Baghdadi

Iraqi officials said Nov. 9 that an airstrike wounded the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Pentagon officials said they had no immediate information on such a strike or al-Baghdadi being wounded.

Iraq’s Defense and Interior Ministries issued statements saying al-Baghdadi had been wounded, without elaborating.

The first appearance of self-proclaimed "caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a video shot in an Iraqi mosque illustrates the extent of his jihadist group's control and confidence, experts say.
      

The leader of the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, purportedly ordered all Muslims to obey him in a video released July 5 on social media.

The hitherto elusive Baghdadi, who on June 29 proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq, made his appeal in a sermon delivered on Friday in the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul.