Syria

An Iraqi interior ministry official has told a daily newspaper that Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is alive.

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Intelligence and counterterrorism department head Abu Ali al-Basri told the state-run run daily As-Sabah that Baghdadi was wounded in an air strike recently and was being treated at a hospital in Syria.

"We have irrefutable information and documents from sources within the terrorist organisation that al-Baghdadi is still alive," Abu Ali al-Basri said.

Basri added that Baghdadi was suffering from "injuries, diabetes and fractures to the body and legs that prevent him from walking without assistance".

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There have been conflicting reports about the fate of the IS chief with Russia last year declaring that Baghdadi was killed. 

In June last year, Russia's foreign ministry had said there was a "high degree of certainty that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead".

Viktor Ozerov, the head of Russian defence committee had asserted that information was close to "100 per cent correct".

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However, US defence secretary  James Mattis refuted the Russian claims, declaring that the IS leader was alive and that the US was "going after him".