After waves of airstrikes by both Iraq and U.S.-led coalition forces, questions rise about whether ISIS's leader was hit.
Iraq's Ministry of Interior said that the Iraqi air force wounded ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and killed a number of his senior leaders on Saturday in an airstrike on the Iraqi town of Al-Qaem.
But it's unusual for the Ministry of Interior to make a claim of this magnitude involving a defense operation.
Iraq's Ministry of Defense hasn't made any public statements on the alleged hit. Neither has the Iraqi prime minister's office.
In the United States, a Pentagon spokesman confirmed U.S.-led coalition airstrikes over the weekend targeted "what was assessed to be a gathering of ISIL leaders" by Mosul, which is about 400 kilometers or 250 miles away from Al-Qaem. But Col. Patrick Ryan said he could not confirm reports that al-Baghdadi was in the convoy.
This article strongly interests me. I honestly didn't expect the war with ISIS to escalate so quickly. I honestly don't think that Abu Bakr al-Baghadi is dead and that he escaped or wasn't on the convoy at all. Instead of killing him, I wish we'd capture him first. This event reminds me of the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001 when we bombed the area thinking that Osama bin Laden was there, but he had escaped before the bombs.
This is the source for the article: http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/world/meast/isis-threat/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
This is a complicated subject. I hope that he lived so he can be questioned and justice can be served. And it's hard to imagine how quickly everything with ISIS has happened.
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