The mysterious escape of the IS leader

The leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) is unknown whether he is alive or dead, but there are reports that he is hiding in a city in eastern Syria.

Al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts remain a mystery. A Syrian military-linked media outlet has reported that terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is currently in Boukamal – days after he reportedly fled from Iraq to Syria in a yellow taxi.

The mysterious escape of the IS leader.

Last Thursday (November 9), the Syrian army declared victory in Boukamal – the last major IS stronghold. However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the next day, IS recaptured half of the city.

The US-led coalition admitted it did not have any reliable information regarding al-Baghdadi's whereabouts.

If Baghdadi is killed or captured, it would be a fatal blow to IS, which has lost 90 percent of the territory it seized in Iraq and Syria in its bid to establish a "caliphate" in June 2014.

As Syrian soldiers and their allies conducted manhunt operations in Boukamal, they "received information" that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi might be hiding in one of the city's hideouts, the Syrian Central Military Media reported.

Last week, it was reported that al-Baghdadi had fled Iraq, where he was hiding in the north-eastern town of Rawa. Al-Baghdadi felt his presence in Rawa was 'threatening' and crossed the border into Syria by taxi.

In September, al-Baghdadi resurfaced with an audiotape in which he called on IS loyalists to burn their enemies wherever they were and target the “media centers of the infidels.” The IS leader has only made one public appearance, in 2014 in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

In June, officials in Moscow said there was a “high probability” al-Baghdadi had been killed in a Russian air strike on the outskirts of Raqqa, the IS capital in Syria. However, the US believes he is still alive.

According to VNN