Report: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi nearly killed in airstrike

In March, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was seriously injured in an airstrike, and has yet to resume day-to-day control of the organization, sources tell The Guardian.

The strike took place in western Iraq on March 18, a source in Iraq said, and his wounds were life-threatening. Before al-Baghdadi made his slow recovery, concerned ISIS leaders thought he would die, and met to determine who would take his place.

A western diplomat gave The Guardian more details on the airstrike, which hit a three-car convoy. It took place between the villages of Umm al-Rous and al-Qaraan, and targeted three leaders from the area; at the time, no one knew that al-Baghdadi was in one of the vehicles. He has been spending most of his time in al-Baaj, 200 miles west of Mosul, because "he knew from the war that the Americans did not have much cover there," a source said. "From 2003 [the U.S. military] barely had a presence there. It was the one part of Iraq that they hadn't mapped out."

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