The Guardian reports: The leader of Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been seriously wounded in an air strike in western Iraq, sources have told the Guardian.

A source in Iraq with connections to the terror group revealed that Baghdadi suffered serious injuries during an attack by the US-led coalition in March. The source said Baghdadi’s wounds were at first life-threatening, but he has since made a slow recovery. He has not, however, resumed day-to-day control of the organisation.

Baghdadi’s wounding led to urgent meetings of Isis leaders, who initially believed he would die and made plans to name a new leader.

Two separate officials – a western diplomat and an Iraqi adviser – confirmed the strike took place on 18 March in the al-Baaj a district of Nineveh, close to the Syrian border. There had been two previous reports in November and December of Baghdadi being wounded, though neither was accurate. [Continue reading…]

The Daily Beast: While Pentagon officials said that a strike in that area indeed happened March 18, there was no evidence then or since that Baghdadi was killed. The strike was not aimed at a high-value target, defense officials said. “We have no reason to believe it was Baghdadi,” Army Col. Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told The Daily Beast.