URGENT: ISIL’s Mosul leader Al-Khatuna, not Al-Baghdadi appeared in video according to Nineveh Provincial Council

Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Security Committee of the Nineveh Provincial Council revealed on Sunday that the person who appeared in the Mosul sermon video which was aired here is Abu Bakr Al-Khatuna, the Wali or leader of ISIL in Mosul, not Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of the entire ISIL.

The Committee Chairman Mohammed Ibrahim said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, that “The available information confirms the absence of the leader of the terrorist organization of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in the city of Mosul,” adding that “the person who appeared in the video on Friday prayers was Abu Bakr Al-Khatuna, Wali of ISIL in Mosul and not Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.”

Ibrahim added that “the Iraqi Air Force is currently performing several focused and precise operations against elements of ISIL,” stressing that “the relationship between the cleansing of Mosul and the liberation of Salahuddin is the start of a large-scale military operation to defeat these terrorists.”

The sites belonging to the terrorist organization of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant published earlier on Saturday photographs and a video clip claiming to be of the leader of ISIL, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon during Friday prayers in one of the mosques in Mosul which can be seen here: http://www.iraqinews.com/features/urgent-video-isis-releases-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-sermon-mosul-grand-mosque/

Yesterday, IraqiNews.com reported that the Ministry of Interior declared the video to be fake: http://www.iraqinews.com/baghdad-politics/urgent-video-al-baghdadi-fake-according-ministry-interior/

Here is the full video of the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sermon with English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOORW63ioY0