Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is “seriously ill” after being poisoned during a lunchtime feast, media reports claimed today.
Three of Baghdadi’s top aides also suffered “severe poisoning” and all four have been “transferred to an unknown location under strict measures,” the Iraqi news agency WAA said.
Meals prepared for Baghdadi and three other ISIS leaders were allegedly poisoned in Ninevehs Beaaj district in Iraq, WAA said, citing a local source.
After the incident, ISIS terrorists were conducting several arrests in order to determine who was behind it.
Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim al-Samarrai, carries a USD 10 million bounty on his head.
He has reportedly been wounded multiple times.
News of Baghdadis poisoning came as Iraqi media claimed some top ISIS commanders were among 16 militants killed when one of the leaders’ explosive belt exploded during a meeting.
"A number of the ISIS members were wearing explosive belts during the meeting, and the explosion took place due to a defect in one of them," Al-Sumaria Iraqi media outlet said.
Earlier in June, media reports had claimed that Baghdadi was killed in a US airstrike. However, Syria’s ambassador to Russia denied the reports but said, "I definitely know that he (Baghdadi) was wounded".
ISIS or IS is an al-Qaeda splinter group and it has seized hundreds of square miles in Iraq and Syria.
Al-Qaeda has distanced itself from the group, chiding it for its lack of teamwork in its aggressive, brutal expansion.
