Iraq to strike Syrian sites in search of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — MP

Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) – Iraq is planning to carry out new air raids inside the Syrian territories to eliminate chief of the Islamic State (IS) group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi lawmaker was quoted as saying.

MP Abdel Aziz Hassan, the rapporteur of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, told SNG agency that the federal government in Baghdad received intelligence reports about the presence of a number of IS leaders at a border area between Iraq and Syria.

According to Hassan, “Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is expected to be at one of IS sites inside Syria,” adding that the Iraqi government will seek Syria’s approval first before launching the raid.

Earlier in the day, Iraqi warplanes killed Abu Luqman al-Suri, a notorious IS leader who is believed to be the deputy of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in an airstrike on terrorist hotbeds in Syria.

Al-Suri was in a meeting with other Islamic State leaders at a building inside the Syrian territories when Iraqi jets targeted them.

Al-Baghdadi emerged as leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, one of the groups that later became Islamic State, in 2010. In October 2011, the US officially designated Baghdadi as a terrorist. It has offered a reward of up to $25m (£19.6m) for information leading to his capture or death.