US Says Cannot Confirm Status of Islamic State Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi After Strike

Beijing: The United States cannot yet confirm whether the Islamic State commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed or wounded in Iraq following an air strike near the city of Falluja, a White House spokesman said today.

Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes was speaking on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing.

There have been contradictory accounts out of Iraq following US air strikes on Friday night about whether Baghdadi was wounded.