Iraqi Forces Arrest Baghdadi’s Deputy Commander in Kirkuk

Iraqi police said in a statement that the detained individual was the deputy of the former Daesh chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Sputnik reported.

“The (detained man) was al-Baghdadi’s deputy, as well as the ‘military emir (commander)’ for the Saladin province”, the statement said on Tuesday.

On October 27, the United States claimed that Baghdadi had been killed in Syria during a special operation by American troops. US President Donald Trump thanked Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and the Syrian Kurds for their assistance in the operation.

The Russian Defense Ministry, in the meantime, said that there was no reliable data to confirm that the terrorist had indeed been killed.

Since 2014, there have been at least six instances in which different states and non-state actors claimed to have killed Baghdadi.