On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry said it is checking on information showing that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reportedly killed in a Russia-led airstrike in Syria.

The strikes targeted a meeting of high-ranking ISIS terrorists which al-Baghdadi was reportedly attending.

“According to information, which is being checked through various channels, ISIS leader Ibrahim Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi was present at the meeting and was killed as a result of the strike,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

RT reports:

Among those who were killed in the strike were Emir of Raqqa Abu al-Haji al-Masri, Emir Ibrahim al-Naef al-Hajj, “who controlled the district from the city of Raqqa to the settlement of es-Sohne” and IS head of security Suleiman al-Sawah,” the ministry added.

Moscow has given its American partners information about the place and time of the airstrike, the ministry said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he can’t fully confirm the death of the IS leader. “I don’t have 100 percent confirmation of the information concerning the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” he said at a press conference on Friday.


The US-led anti-ISIS coalition in Syria said it can’t confirm the reports that al-Baghdadi was killed in an airstrike. The Pentagon also said that it has “no information to corroborate those reports.”

This is not the first time that al-Baghdadi was reported dead. The Pentagon has not yet confirmed any of those reports, neither has the Russian, Iraqi, or Syrian militaries.