MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday its attack and multirole aircraft may have killed Baghdadi on the southern outskirts of Raqqa on May 28. It noted that it was in the process of confirming the information through various channels.
"Ultimately, this will help solve the task of freeing Raqqa," chairman of the Council of the Federation Committee on Defense and Security Victor Ozerov said.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated Friday that the Russian aerospace forces' strike conducted on May 28, allegedly killed Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi south of Raqqa. The verification is ongoing.
The Daesh leader may have been killed alongside other leaders of the extremist group and 330 terrorists in a Russian Aerospace Forces strike late last month, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.
A similar opinion was voiced by Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov who said that the death of the Daesh leader will be "a severe blow" to the organization and speed up the defeat of the terrorists.
"The death of al-Baghdadi will be a severe blow to the IS, if confirmed. The group is in full retreat. The death of its leader will prompt a military defeat," Pushkov wrote on Twitter.
Al-Baghdadi appeared in the media for the first time in 2014 when he declared the creation of a caliphate in the Middle East. Since then, the media several times reported about the death of Daesh leader, though the information has never been confirmed.
On Sunday, the Syrian state television reported that Baghdadi was killed as a result of US strikes in Raqqa.
