Syrian Observatory: ISIS Leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Confirmed Dead

Hamilton Nwosa
Writer

Ad

From Aid to Algorithms: How Africa Can Lead Its Own AI Revolution

By Sonny Iroche As a participant and delegate at three of the world’s most defining Artificial Intelligence summits, from Doha to Paris and Kigali , I have had the privilege of engaging directly with global policymakers, innovators, and technology leaders shaping the future of AI. Although I was unable to attend the first global AI…

King Charles, Pope Leo pray together in historic first

King Charles III on Thursday became the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with a pope since the schism with Rome 500 years ago, in a service led by Leo XIV. The 76-year-old monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, joined the US-born pope in the Sistine Chapel for a 30-minute service…

Tears as Ghana’s Ex-First Lady Nana Konadu Rawlings Dies at 76

By Abiola Olawale Ghana is shrouded in grief on Thursday, October 23, 2025, following the passing of a former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, who died at the age of 76 in Accra. ​Sources close to the family confirmed that the former First Lady, the widow of the late President Jerry John Rawlings, passed away…

Ad

Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been confirmed  killed, war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has said.

“(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank, in [Isis territory] in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor,” director of the UK-based group Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters on Tuesday.

There has been no confirmation from Isis’ official news agency Amaq. SOHR’s sources did not say when Baghdadi supposedly died, or how.

 US, Kurdish and Iraqi sources were all quick to say they could not corroborate the SOHR report.

“We take any report of this nature with a large dose of salt,” Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to US President Donald Trump, said in an interview with Fox News after the SOHR claim surfaced.

“We will verify it. We will look at the intelligence available… and we will give a statement when we have the requisite facts.”

The notorious jihadi is believed to be in hiding in the region around the Syria-Iraq border, moving frequently and avoiding telecommunications to evade detection.

Rumours of his death have been reported frequently since the cleric made his only public appearance announcing the creation of Isis’ so-called caliphate from the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014.

In June, the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed to have carried out an air strike in Syria which killed Baghdadi and several other high profile Isis leaders, but did not provide any evidence backing up the claim.

At the time, Washington DC said it could not corroborate the death, and Western and Iraqi officials have been sceptical. Drone footage shows the devastation in Mosul’s old city and the destroyed al-Nuri Mosque

UK-based SOHR is a respected human rights and war crimes monitor utilising sources on the ground in Syria with a credible track record reporting on the civil war.

If the report is true, it comes as one of the biggest blows yet to the jihadist organisation which is rapidly losing territory across Syria and Iraq.

Last week the Iraqi army officially declared Isis’ de facto Iraqi capital of Mosul liberated from the militants, marking the destruction of one half of the so-called caliphate.

Ad

X whatsapp