New Delhi, Delhi, India

The Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters.

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"(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor," the director of the British-based war monitoring group Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters.

The news of Baghdadi's death has been floating for quite some time. In June, the Russian defence ministry had said that the Islamic State leader was killed in one of its air strikes.

The Syrian Observatory, which keeps a track of the ongoing war in Syria, said that Islamic State sources in the Syrian town of Deir al-Zor confirmed that Baghdadi has been killed.

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The news of his death has not been verified by Islamic State's official news agency Amaq.