Sources tell us Baghdadi is still alive, but still unable to move due to spinal injury sustained in the March airstrike, the Business Insider website quoted Kareem Shaheen at The Guardian as saying in a Tuesday message posted on Twitter.
Another Guardian reporter also said according to his sources Baghdadi is not dead and is receiving treatment from doctors of Mosul.
In an earlier report, an unnamed source said that Baghdadi was hiding in the town of al-Baaj in Iraqs northern Nineveh province, adding that he had chosen the place because he knew the US forces did not have much cover there.
The source also confirmed that Baghdadi was seriously injured during a US-led coalition attack in March and noted even though his wounds were initially life threatening, he hadslowly recovered from his injuries.
He has not, however, resumed day-to-day control of the organization, the source stated.
The report, however, has not been confirmed by US officials. We have nothing to confirm this report, said a Pentagon spokesman.
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File images of Abu Alaa Afri, who is reportedly heading the Takfiri ISIL terrorist group now[/caption]Another recent report quoted Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi government adviser, as saying that Abu Alaa Afri, the deputy of Baghdadi and a former physics teacher, has been appointed as the Takfiri groups temporary leader.
Hashimi further said that Afri is more important than Baghdadi in the eyes of the Takfiri groups leadership. Afri will assume leadership of ISIL if Baghdadi dies, he highlighted.
ISIL launched an offensive in Iraq in June last year and took control of Mosul, the countrys second-largest city, before sweeping through parts of the countrys heartland.
By Press TV
