Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi still alive: US defence secretary
Authored By Wion Web Desk
Published: Jul 22, 2017, 24:47 IST | Updated: Jul 22, 2017, 24:47 IST
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The defence secretary's comments come a month after the Russian military claimed they had hit a meeting Baghdadi was attending near Raqqa, Syria and that he?had possibly died in the strike
The US defence secretary said on Friday that he believes Islamic State leaderAbu Bakr al-Baghdadi is still alive.
The defence secretary's comments come a month after the Russian military claimed they had hit a meeting Baghdadi was attending near Raqqa, Syria and that hehad possibly died in the strike.
Several other reports since then have suggested the IS chief was killed either in Iraq or Syria.
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"I think Baghdadi's alive... And I'll believe otherwise when we know we've killed him," James Mattis told reporters.
"But, we're going after him. We assume he's alive," he added.