DUSHANBE, April 28, 2015, Asia-Plus – The leader of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has reportedly died from wounds sustained during an air strike on the terror group.  

A report released by the Guardian on April 21 said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been seriously wounded in an air strike in western Iraq.  A source in Iraq with connections to the terror group reportedly revealed that Baghdadi suffered serious injuries during an attack by the US-led coalition in March.  The source said Baghdadi’s wounds were at first life-threatening, but he has since made a slow recovery.  He has not, however, resumed day-to-day control of the organization, the Guardian reports.

Two separate officials – a western diplomat and an Iraqi adviser – confirmed the strike took place on March 18 in the al-Baaj a district of Nineveh, close to the Syrian border.

Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi official who advises Baghdad on Isis, told the Guardian: “Yes, he was wounded in al-Baaj near the village of Umm al-Rous on 18 March with a group that was with him.”

Meanwhile, some media outlets say that Radio Iran reported on Monday that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead.  

Iran’s Fars News Agency (FNA) reported on April 26 that Al-Youm Al-Thamen (the 8th Day) quoting intelligence sources said ISIL had earlier recorded several videos of its leader months before the March airstrike and after the first time that he escaped lethal injuries around a year ago to prove that he is alive until the group can introduce an universally accepted new leader.

The sources reportedly added that the members of the Takfiri group operating in Iraq have already pledged allegiance to a new leader called Abdul Rahman al-Sheijlar, alias Abu Ala Afri, as Baghdadi''s successor.

There are also unconfirmed reports that internal disputes have erupted and gaps among a number of ISIL factions in Syria and Iraq are widening over the appointment of the new leader, as the ISIL branch fighting Syria has rejected Afri''s leadership and are dithering over Baghdadi''s successor, FNA reports.

According to FNA, the Spanish-language Hispan TV television also released a report on April 25 in which it confirmed the death of the ISIL leader.

Fars reports that according to two Iraqi news agencies, Alghad Press and Al-Youm Al-Thamen, as well as sources in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Baghdadi died in an Israeli hospital in the occupied Golan Heights where he had been hospitalized for treatment after sustaining severe injuries during a joint attack of the Iraqi army and popular forces.

The sources reportedly added that al-Baghdadi has been declared by his Israeli physicians and surgeons as to be now “clinically dead.”