Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi travels with tight-knit group in Syria

ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi is hiding in eastern Syria and moves around with only a small group of followers, including one of his sons, an Iraqi intelligence official said on Wednesday.

The senior Iraqi official said Baghdadi was in the Hajin, Shaddadi, Suwar and Markadah areas and “travels accompanied by four or five people, including his son and son-in-law.”

“His movements are discreet and he never travels in a convoy,” the official said.

“Officers from Iraqi intelligence entered Syrian territory and gained access to the zones controlled by Daesh,” he said.

The five men had featured in Daesh execution videos filmed while the group ruled over vast swathes of Iraq, the official said.

One of those detained, former Syrian anti-government fighter Saddam Al Jamal, allegedly confessed to Iraqi forces that he had supplied Daesh with arms stolen from the Syrian army.

The official said 39 Daesh fighters had been killed in cross-border air raids by Iraqi forces in Syria over the past few weeks and that the group had seen a “sharp decrease” in numbers.

Separately, Iraq captured five Daesh commanders after its intelligence services lured them into crossing from neighbouring Syria, Iraqi state TV reported on Wednesday.

The broadcaster said it would give details on the capture of the five later in the day.

Iraq’s interior ministry said in February that Baghdadi was being treated at a field hospital for wounds sustained in an earlier air strike.

Source: Gulf Today