IS chief Baghdadi escapes Iraqi Army’s final assault

TIL Desk/World/London-Islamic State’s reclusive chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has escaped from the terrorist group’s stronghold of Mosul as the Iraqi Army advanced for a final assault, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said today. He said western intelligence sources believe Baghdadi is no longer in Mosul. Baghdadi yesterday broke his year-long silence and issued an audio recording, urging his jihadists to continue their fight to the end in Mosul, where he was believed to be hiding.

Johnson, in an unusual reference to intelligence, said Baghdadi’s audio recording was “cruelly ironic since some of the intelligence we have suggests he had himself vacated the scene and is yet using internet media to encourage others to take part in violence.”  The battle for Mosul was expected to end in a decisive defeat for the terrorist group, but Baghdadi’s escape is likely to complicate matters for Iraqi and coalition forces.

Johnson said the recapture of Mosul, in the face of IS’s “scorched earth campaign”, would take time and represented “the coalition’s greatest challenge. If Baghdadi, who surprised the world by establishing the caliphate after capturing Mosul in June 2014, were to be killed, IS would have to choose a new caliph, but no successor would have the authority and prestige of the reclusive leader.