Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been seriously wounded in an air strike in western Iraq, sources told the London Guardian Tuesday.
He was injured enough that he is not in control of daily operations of the terrorist organization. His wounds are not life-threatening, and he is recovering.
The newspaper’s diplomatic source in Iraq reported that a March 18 aerial attack in western Iraq, near the border with Syria, hit Baghdadi and set off plans to replace him in case he died.
This is the third time Baghdadi has been reported wounded or killed. Two previous reports last year proved false. One of them was a near-miss, when one of his close aides was killed by a missile shot from a plane.
The air raid in March struck a three-car convoy and may have killed three people.
Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi official who advises Baghdad on ISIS, told the Guardian: “Yes, he was wounded in al-Baaj near the village of Umm al-Rous on 18 March with a group that was with him.”
He added that Baghdadi intentionally was in an area that he knew the Americans had not mapped in the war in Iraq.
Even if Baghdadi were to be killed, there are other leaders who have taken more authority for strategic decisions, while Baghdadi remains the religious leader of the radical Islamists.