Yazidi men whose wives and children were abducted by ISIL are struggling to cope with the uncertainty of their fates.

Duhok, Iraq - Salem Khalaf, a 63-year-old tractor driver, vividly recalls the day in August 2014 when ISIL fighters attacked the Sinjar region.

Upon hearing that the group was drawing near and that security forces had fled, Khalaf and other Yazidi men sent their families away, while they remained in place, taking up small arms to defend their homes.

But they were no match for the fighters with ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS). After just a few days, Khalaf and his remaining neighbours fled to the mountains, taking the route that thousands of other Yazidis had followed. They faced starvation and dehydration along the way.

Khalaf has a proud and strong voice, but when he starts talking about his wife and five children - who were 10, 11, 16, 18 and 23 when he last saw them in August 2014 - he looks at the ground and can barely find words. All were kidnapped by ISIL as they attempted to flee on the family's tractor.

"My daughters used to hug me every day when I came back from work. I often used to bring little presents for all my children - dolls, plastic animals, flowers and make-up - small things to make them happy," Khalaf told Al Jazeera while sitting in his tent in a camp for displaced Iraqis near the city of Duhok. "And my wife was so beautiful and nice. We really made a good team."

A few months ago, Khalaf went back to his home in the village of Hardan, north of Sinjar, to find it completely destroyed. Everything valuable had been taken, except for the gifts he bought for his two boys and three girls. When he saw their personal belongings lying on the floor, Khalaf collapsed.

"At first, I wanted to bring some of their belongings with me, but I couldn't bear the thought of seeing these things every day. It hurts too much," he said.

According to his sister-in-law, Ida, Khalaf's wife and children were last seen in Tal Afar nearly two years ago. Ida was also kidnapped by ISIL, but released months later along with 200 other Yazidis, mostly elderly women and children. Since then, no trace of Khalaf's family has been found.

"I know that ISIL is selling them now as slaves. That is what they do with Yazidi women and girls," he said with a broken voice.

More than 6,400 Yazidis were kidnapped by ISIL when the group attacked Sinjar in August 2014, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Most of the men were killed and dumped in mass graves, while the women and children were abducted, repeatedly raped or forced to fight for the group.

READ MORE: Yazidis tell horror stories about ISIL captivity

Since then, more than 3,000 Yazidis have managed to escape, the KRG says. When the battle for Mosul started late last year, many Yazidi families hoped that their family members soon would be rescued.

"We asked the Iraqi army to cut off the road to Syria in an early stage. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Therefore, ISIL had plenty of time to transfer a lot of kidnapped Yazidis to other places, and because of this, we couldn't rescue as many of them as we were hoping for. Thousands of them are still missing," Hussein al-Qaidi, director of the KRG's Office of Kidnapped Affairs in Duhok, told Al Jazeera.

The Yazidi men left behind say they feel betrayed not only by the military forces, who withdrew in the face of advancing ISIL troops, but also by some of their Arab neighbours, who advised them to surrender. Many Yazidi families took that advice, they said, only to find out later that these neighbours were cooperating with ISIL. Questions of "what if" continue to haunt many of the men.

"When ISIL was advancing, we fled to the mountains. After a few days, we decided to look for water and food in a nearby village, as we were starving. When we were there, some of our Arab neighbours came to us. They promised to protect us," Khiri Abdallah, a 35-year-old schoolteacher, told Al Jazeera. "My wife and children went with them, and I went back to get the others. We trusted them."

Instead, Abdallah's family was handed over to ISIL. He later found out that his wife and children were brought to Syria and sold to an ISIL fighter from Tunisia, who later carried out a suicide attack. "Other ISIL members came to my family, gave them $500 and told my son that his father went to heaven," he added.

Abdallah was recently reunited with his sons Shalal, 14, and six-year-old Hachem, after more than two years. His wife and teenage daughter are still being held in ISIL territory.

In another camp in the Kurdish region of Iraq, 66-year-old Khudeda Msto Haji lives alone. Once a respected man in the town of Khanasor with a family and his own casino and catering business, he now lives alone in a tent, struggling to scrape by each day. Sometimes, he even talks to his children, pretending that they are sitting next to him in the room.

As he shows pictures of his wife and children, tears roll down his cheeks. "What did she do to deserve this? Why did they do this to us Yazidis? ISIL destroyed us," he asked.

Haji recently started working as a cook again to provide support for his eldest son, who is studying medicine at university and was not at home when ISIL attacked the area.

Every wedding Haji attends makes him feel even more depressed. "I try to smile and pretend to be OK, but the truth is that it hurts me a lot to see people happy. Happy people remind me of the past. I cannot even imagine that I once was a happy man with a family," he said, noting that he would do anything to rescue his wife and children from ISIL's grip.

"Another Yazidi survivor told me that my daughter was sold to a fighter in Raqqa, [Syria]. I now need $30,000 to pay for the smuggler - money I don't have," he said. "I lost everything when ISIL attacked us."</s>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, except that he is supposed to have been living in the Deir Ezzor area for the last three months.

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The Pentagon, 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."

Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Mosul offensive Show all 40 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Mosul offensive 1/40 A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters 2/40 Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters 3/40 A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters 4/40 A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters 5/40 Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images 6/40 A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP 7/40 Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images 8/40 Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images 9/40 An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images 10/40 A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images 11/40 Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images 12/40 An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images 13/40 Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images 14/40 Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images 15/40 An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images 16/40 Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images 17/40 Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images 18/40 A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images 19/40 Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty 20/40 Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty 21/40 A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters 22/40 Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty 23/40 Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters 24/40 An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters 25/40 Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty 26/40 Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty 27/40 Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP 28/40 Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah 29/40 A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters 30/40 An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty 31/40 People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters 32/40 A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters 33/40 Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP 34/40 An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty 35/40 A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty 36/40 An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty 37/40 Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty 38/40 Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty 39/40 Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty 40/40 A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty 1/40 A doctor carries an Iraqi newborn baby at a hospital in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017. Reuters 2/40 Iraqi girls play at a yard of a school in Mosul, Iraq July 18, 2017alal Reuters 3/40 A woman on crutches who is a relative of men accused of being Islamic State militants is seen at a camp in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq July 15, 2017. Picture taken July 15, 2017. Reuters 4/40 A displaced girl, who fled from home carries a doll at Hamam al-Alil camp south of Mosul, Iraq July 13, 2017. Reuters 5/40 Iraqi federal police members and civilians celebrate in the Old City of Mosul on 9 July 2017 after the government's announcement of the "liberation" of the embattled city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said he was in "liberated" Mosul to congratulate "the heroic fighters and the Iraqi people on the achievement of the major victory" AFP/Getty Images 6/40 A picture taken on 9 July 2017, shows a general view of the destruction in Mosul's Old City. Iraq will announce imminently a final victory in the nearly nine-month offensive to retake Mosul from jihadists, a US general said Saturday, as celebrations broke out among police forces in the city. AFP 7/40 Members of the Iraqi federal police raise the victory gesture as they ride on a humvee while advancing through the Old City of Mosul on 28 June 2017, as the offensive continues to retake the last district held by Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images 8/40 Smoke billows as Iraqi forces advance through the Old City of Mosul on 26 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district held by the Islamic State (IS) group. AFP/Getty Images 9/40 An Iraqi man wearing the green scarf of the Shi'ite faith kisses an Iraqi Army soldier on safely reaching the Iraqi forces position as Iraqi civilians flee the Old City of west Mosul where heavy fighting continues on 23 June 2017. Iraqi forces continue to encounter stiff resistance with improvised explosive devices, car bombs, heavy mortar fire and snipers hampering their advance. Getty Images 10/40 A picture taken from the inside of an Iraqi forces armoured vehicle shows residents walking through a damaged street as troops advance towards Mosul's Old City on 18 June 2017, during the ongoing offensive to retake the last district still held by the Islamic State (IS) group. Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance. AFP/Getty Images 11/40 Iraqi Army soldiers advance in a destroyed street after an Iraqi forces airstrike targeted an Islamic State sniper position 17 June 2017 in al-Shifa, the last district of west Mosul under Islamic State control. IS snipers, as well as car and suicide bomb attacks continue to hinder the Iraqi forces efforts to retake the final district. A series of airstrikes by Iraqi helicopter gunships attempted to hit multiple Islamic State sniper positions in al-Shifa. Getty Images 12/40 An Iraqi soldier frisks a displaced Iraqi man at a temporary camp in the compound of the closed Nineveh International Hotel in Mosul on 16 June 2017 which was recovered by Iraqi troops from Islamic State group fighters earlier in the year. A screening centre set up in the compound's fairgrounds sees a constant stream of Iraqis fleeing the battle for Mosul, awaiting their turn to be checked by the Iraqi forces who are searching for suspected Islamic State (IS) group members. The small fairground lies at the end of a pontoon bridge across the Tigris recently opened to civilians that is the only physical link between the two banks of the river. AFP/Getty Images 13/40 Iraqis staying at the al-Khazir camp swim in a river near the camp for internally displaced people, located between Arbil and Mosul on 11 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images 14/40 Iraqi government forces drive on a road leading to Tal Afar on 9 June 2017, during ongoing battles to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. AFP/Getty Images 15/40 An Iraqi policeman carries a poster bearing an image of Mosul's iconic leaning minaret, known as the "Hadba" (Hunchback), on 22 June 2017. AFP/Getty Images 16/40 Iraqis stand in line to receive food aid in western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood on 7 June 2017, during ongoing battles as Iraqi forces try to retake the city from Islamic State (IS) group fighters. Living conditions in Mosul have again deteriorated since the start of the Iraqi government's offensive on the city in October in which they retook a large part of the west of the city. AFP/Getty Images 17/40 Displaced Iraqis carry lightbulbs and sacks as they evacuate from western Mosul's Zanjili neighbourhood as government forces advance in the area during their ongoing battle against Islamic State (IS) group fighters on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images 18/40 A member of the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) flashes the victory gesture as he patrols in western Mosul's al-Islah al-Zaraye neighbourhood on 13 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images 19/40 Iraqi army soldiers from the 9th armoured division on a truck flash the sign of victory as they drive back from Mosul to the town of Qaraqosh (also known as Hamdaniya) Getty 20/40 Members of Iraqi forces flash the sign of victory on their vehicle as they advance towards Hammam al-Alil area south of Mosul Getty 21/40 A member of Iraqi security forces gestures in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul, Iraq Reuters 22/40 Iraqi children, one flashing the sign of victory, greet Iraqi army's soldiers from the 9th armoured division in the area of Ali Rash, adjacent to the eastern Al-Intissar neighbourhood of Mosul Getty 23/40 Peshmerga forces look at a tunnel used by Islamic State militants near the town of Bashiqa, east of Mosul, during an operation to attack Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq Reuters 24/40 An Iraqi soldier takes a photograph with his phone as his comrade stands next to a detained man, whom the Iraqi army soldiers accused of being an Islamic State fighter, who was fleeing with his family in the Intisar disrict of eastern Mosul, Iraq Reuters 25/40 Iranian Kurdish female members of the Freedom Party of Kurdistan (PAK) hold a position in an area near the town of Bashiqa, some 25 kilometres north east of Mosul Getty 26/40 Iraqi families, who fled their homes in Hamam al-Alil, gather on the outskirts of their town Getty 27/40 Displaced people walk past a checkpoint near Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq AP 28/40 Iraqi families who were displaced by the ongoing operation by Iraqi forces against jihadists of the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul, are seen gathering in an area near Qayyarah 29/40 A boy who just fled Abu Jarbuah village is seen with his family at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters 30/40 An Iraqi child eats a pomegranate upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty 31/40 People who just fled Abu Jarbuah village sit as they eat at a Kurdish Peshmerga position between two front lines near Bashiqa, east of Mosul, Iraq Reuters 32/40 A couple who just fled Abu Jarbuah village are escorted by Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers Reuters 33/40 Women carry a boy over a wall as civilians flee their houses in the village of Tob Zawa, Iraq AP 34/40 An Iraqi soldier and a civilian ride a motorbike as smoke rises behind them, on the road between Qayyarah and Mosul Getty 35/40 A member of Iraqi forces, wearing a skull mask, waits at a checkpoint for people fleeing the main hub city of Mosul Getty 36/40 An Iraqi soldier sits at a checkpoint in an area near Qayyarah Getty 37/40 Iraqi men prepare food portions for Iraqi forces deployed in areas south of Mosul Getty 38/40 Iraqi forces celebrate upon the arrival of vehicles bringing food to them Getty 39/40 Iraqi childen smoke cigarettes upon the arrival of Iraqi forces in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty 40/40 A member of Iraqi forces distributes drinks to children in the village of Umm Mahahir, south of Mosul Getty

The US put up a $25 million (£19 million) reward for Baghdadi's capture - the same it has offered for al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and his successor Ayman al-Zawahri.

It is not yet known if any individual or organsation will claim the bounty.

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.

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At the time, Washington DC said it could not corroborate the death, and Western and Iraqi officials have been sceptical.

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.</s>Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was reported dead today, a day after Iraq declared it had driven the jihadists from their one-time biggest stronghold of Mosul. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a longtime monitor of the country’s conflict, said it had information from top IS leaders confirming Baghdadi’s death. The report could not be independently verified and Baghdadi has been reported dead several times. But if confirmed, his death would mark another devastating blow to the jihadist group after its loss of Mosul, which Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Monday had been retaken from IS after a gruelling months-long campaign. “Top tier commanders from IS who are present in Deir Ezzor province have confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al- Baghdadi, emir of the Islamic State group, to the Observatory,” the monitoring group’s director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. “We learned of it today but we do not know when he died or how.” Deir Ezzor, in eastern Syria, remains largely under IS control even as the group is losing territory elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring Iraq.

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Abdel Rahman said Baghdadi “was present in eastern parts of Deir Ezzor province” in recent months, but it was unclear if he died in the area or elsewhere. There was no official confirmation or denial of the news on social media platforms used by IS. The US-led coalition said it could not verify the Observatory’s information. “We cannot confirm this report, but hope it is true,” said coalition spokesman Colonel Ryan Dillon. “We strongly advise ISIS to implement a strong line of succession, it will be needed,” he added, using a different acronym for IS. There have been persistent rumours of Baghdadi’s death in recent months, and Russia’s army said in mid-June that it was seeking to verify whether it had killed the IS chief in a May air strike in Syria. The US-led coalition fighting the jihadist group in Syria and Iraq said at the time it could not confirm whether the Russian strike had killed Baghdadi.

With a USD 25 million US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile and was rumoured to move regularly throughout IS-held territory in the area straddling Iraq and Syria. The 46-year-old Iraqi-born leader of IS has not been seen in public since making his only known public appearance as “caliph” in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul. IS destroyed the highly symbolic site before Iraqi forces could reach it as they pushed the jihadist group from Mosul. Iraqi forces launched their campaign in October to retake Mosul, which was seized by the jihadists during the mid-2014 offensive that saw them take control of large parts of Iraq and Syria. Abadi announced in Mosul yesterday that the campaign had ended with the defeat of IS in the city, hailing “a victory over darkness, a victory over brutality and terrorism”.

The cost of victory has been enormous: much of Mosul in ruins, thousands dead and wounded and nearly half the city’s population forced from their homes. In Mosul’s Old City, where buildings lie in ruins and burned-out cars and other debris choke the streets, security forces were still searching for remaining IS fighters. “What we are doing today is just combing the area and clearing it of sleeper cells,” Staff Lieutenant General Sami al-Aridhi, a senior commander in Iraq’s elite Counter- Terrorism Service (CTS), said today. “There are groups that are hiding in shelters,” but they surrender or are killed, Aridhi said. Since the Mosul operation began in October, 920,000 people have fled their homes, only a fraction of whom have returned, according to the United Nations.

Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Iraqi forces and the US-led coalition of exposing civilians to “relentless and unlawful attacks” in west Mosul. “Pro-government forces launched barrages of indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks using explosive weapons unsuitable for such a densely populated urban area,” Amnesty said.</s>Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it has information from top ISIL commanders confirming Baghdadi's death.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it has "confirmed information" that leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed.

Rami Abdurrahman, director of the war monitor, told news agencies on Tuesday that Baghdadi died in Deir az Zor province in eastern Syria.

"Top tier commanders from ISIL who are present in Deir az Zor province have confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, emir of the Islamic State group, to the Observatory," Abdurrahman told the AFP.

"We learned of it today but we do not know when he died or how."

The report could not be independently verified and Baghdadi has been reported dead several times.

There was no official confirmation or denial of the news on ISIL-affiliated websites and social media feeds.

READ MORE: The Yazidi men left behind - 'ISIL destroyed us'

Russia's defence ministry said in June that it might have killed Baghdadi when one of its air strikes hit a gathering of ISIL commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, but Washington said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials have been sceptical

Deir az Zor remains largely under ISIL control even as the group is losing territory elsewhere in the country and in neighbouring Iraq.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials did not confirm his death. The US Department of Defence said it had no immediate information to corroborate Baghdadi's death.

The 46-year-old Iraqi-born leader of ISIL has not been seen in public since making his only known public appearance as "caliph" in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul.

ISIL destroyed the highly symbolic site before Iraqi forces could reach it as they pushed the group from Mosul, where Iraq's government formally declared victory on Monday.

With a $25m US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile and was rumoured to move regularly throughout ISIL-held territory in the area straddling Iraq and Syria.

His death, if confirmed, would be a new blow to the group which is also battling a US-backed coalition of Kurdish and Arab fighters for control of Raqqa.</s>ISTANBUL – A group that monitors the war in Syria said Tuesday it has “confirmed information” about the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, citing information received from the militants in eastern Syria.

Baghdadi’s death has been rumored numerous times in the past, and it was not immediately possible to independently verify the claim. There also were no immediate announcements from the ISIL’s news channels.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement, “We cannot confirm this report, but hope it is true.”

“We strongly advise ISIS to implement a strong line of succession. It will be needed,” the statement said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

The death of Baghdadi – if true – would mark another blow to the extremist group days after it was finally driven from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by Iraqi-led forces. The militants are also under siege in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s self-declared capital, where a U.S.-backed force of mainly Kurdish fighters has been advancing for weeks.

The monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, is based in Britain and relies on a network of activists in Syria for its reporting. The group’s director, who goes by the pseudonym Rami Abdulrahman, told The Washington Post that Islamic State leaders had confirmed Baghdadi’s death to the Observatory’s activists in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zour.

“We don’t know when. We don’t know how,” Abdulrahman said.

A post on the Syrian Observatory’s website said it “confirmed information . . . about the death” of Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badry.

Baghdadi’s apparent death or capture have been asserted several times over the past decade as his breakaway al-Qaida faction gradually formed into the core of ISIL. But the various reports later proved false or could not be substantiated.

Last month, Russia said it was looking into claims that one of its airstrikes in late May outside Raqqa killed Baghdadi. The Russian military later said it could find no clear evidence of Baghdadi’s death. The U.S. military also said at the time it had “no information to corroborate” the Russia reports.

As far back as December 2012, Iraqi officials claimed that they had captured Baghdadi in Baghdad. Iraqi commanders later said the person held was not Baghdadi.

With files from Brian Murphy and Thomas Gibbons-Neff</s>Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of Islamic State, is dead, according to a Syrian war monitor.

"(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor," Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "We learned of it today but we do not know when he died or how."

Russia's defence ministry said last month that it may have killed Baghdadi when one of its air strikes hit a gathering of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, but the US said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials have been sceptical.</s>Mosul: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters on Tuesday that it had "confirmed information" that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed.

Russia's Defence Ministry said in June that it might have killed Baghdadi when one of its air strikes hit a gathering of Islamic State commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, but Washington said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials have been sceptical.

The report comes weeks after Russia said it was “highly likely” that the Daesh leader had been killed in an airstrike carried out by the Russian Air Force in Syria’s Raqqah city in May.

As per media reports, the Islamic State will announce the name of Baghdadi's successor anytime soon.

Some experts are claiming that one of his top two lieutenants Iyad Al-Obaidi and Ayad Al-Jumaili could replace Al-Baghadadi.

"(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor," the director of the British-based war monitoring group Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters.

In the past, several media outlets have reported about the death of the IS leader, but this information has never been formally confirmed.

The 45-year-old was the leader of a jihadist organisation, which controls territory in several countries.

In 2011, the US added him to a wanted list with a reward of millions of pounds of information or intelligence leading to his capture of death.

Abdulrahman said Observatory sources in Syria's eastern town of Deir al-Zor had been told by Islamic State sources that Baghdadi had died "but they did not specify when".

Iraqi and Kurdish officials did not confirm his death. The U.S. Department of Defence said it had no immediate information corroborate Baghdadi's death.

Islamic State-affiliated websites and social media feeds have not carried any news regarding the leader's possible death.

The death of Baghdadi, who declared a caliphate from a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, would be one of the biggest blows yet to the jihadist group, which is trying to defend shrinking territory in Syria and Iraq.</s>CAIRO (REUTERS) - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters on Tuesday (July 11) that it had “confirmed information” that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), has been killed.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said in June that it might have killed Baghdadi when one of its air strikes hit a gathering of ISIS commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, but Washington said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials have been sceptical.

“(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor,” the director of the British-based war monitoring group Rami Abdulrahman told Reuters.

Baghdadi’s death had been announced many times before but the Observatory has a track record of credible reporting on Syria’s civil war.

Mr Abdulrahman said Observatory sources in Syria’s eastern town of Deir al-Zor had been told by ISIS sources that Baghdadi had died “but they did not specify when”.

Iraqi and Kurdish officials did not confirm his death. The US Department of Defence said it had no immediate information corroborate Baghdadi’s death. ISIS-affiliated websites and social media feeds have not carried any news regarding the leader’s possible death.

The death of Baghdadi, who declared a caliphate from a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, would be one of the biggest blows yet to the terrorist group, which is trying to defend shrinking territory in Syria and Iraq.</s>BEIRUT – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters on Tuesday that it had “confirmed information” that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed.

The report came just days after the Iraqi army recaptured the last sectors of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which Baghdadi’s forces overran almost exactly three years ago.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said in June that it might have killed Baghdadi when one of its air strikes hit a gathering of Islamic State commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa. But Washington said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials have been skeptical.

“(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank who is Syrian, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor,” said Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the British-based war monitoring group.

In Iraq, U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said he could not confirm the news.

Abdulrahman said activists working with him in Deir al-Zor had been told by the Islamic State sources that Baghdadi had died, but not when or how. The sources said Baghdadi had been present in the eastern countryside of Syria’s Deir al-Zor province in the past three months.

The Pentagon said it had no information to corroborate the reports. Kurdish and Iraqi officials also had no immediate confirmation.

Baghdadi’s death has been announced many times before, but the Observatory has a record of credible reporting on the Syrian conflict. Islamic State-affiliated websites and social media feeds have so far said nothing.

The death of Baghdadi, who declared a caliphate governed by Islamic law from a mosque in Mosul in 2014, would be one of the biggest blows yet to the jihadist group, which is trying to defend shrinking territory in Syria and Iraq.

The United States put up a $25 million reward for his capture, the same amount as it had offered for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his successor Ayman al-Zawahri. It is not yet known if anybody will claim the bounty.

 FILE PHOTO: A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi making what would have been his first public appearance, at a mosque in the centre of Iraq’s second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video.Social Media Website via Reuters TV/File Photo

The Islamic State leaders killed in Iraq and Syria since the U.S.-led coalition began its air strikes include Abu Ali al-Anbari, Baghdadi’s deputy; the group’s “minister of war”, Abu Omar al-Shishani, a close military adviser to Baghdadi; and Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, one of its most prominent and longest-serving leaders.

 Family of Preachers

Baghdadi was born Ibrahim Awad al-Samarrai in 1971 in Tobchi, a poor area near Samarra, north of the capital Baghdad.

His family included preachers from the ultra-conservative Salafi school of Sunni Islam, which sees many other branches of the faith as heretical and other religions as anathema.

He joined the Salafi jihadist insurgency in 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and was captured by the Americans. They released him about a year later, thinking he was a civilian agitator rather than a military threat.

It was not until July 4, 2014, that he seized the world’s attention, climbing the pulpit of Mosul’s medieval al-Nuri mosque in black clerical garb during Friday prayers to announce the restoration of the caliphate.

Thousands of volunteers flocked into Iraq and Syria from around the world to become “Jund al-Khilafa”, or soldiers of the caliphate.

At the height of its power two years ago, Islamic State ruled over millions of people in territory running from northern Syria through towns and villages along the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys to the outskirts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

It claimed or inspired attacks in dozens of cities including Paris, Nice, Orlando, Manchester, London and Berlin, and in nearby Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

In Iraq, it staged dozens of attacks targeting Shi’ite Muslim areas. A truck bomb in July 2016 killed more than 324 people in a crowded area of Baghdad, the deadliest attack since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The loss of Mosul and the siege of Raqqa, Islamic State’s capital in Syria, by a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led force stripped Baghdadi of the trappings of caliph and made him a fugitive in the desert border area between the two countries.

Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi in Beirut, Omar Fahmy in Cairo and Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein and Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Kevin Liffey</s>Russia claimed last month that an air strike in Syria may have taken out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive leader of the Islamic State. The May 28 strike on the outskirts of Raqqa — the capital of ISIS’s so-called caliphate — allegedly targeted a meeting of ISIS military commanders. Al-Baghdadi, the Kremlin said, was among them.

The U.S. military and other analysts made clear their skepticism. The U.S. confirmed that Russia did conduct a strike in that area on that date, but as to al-Baghdadi’s fate, a Pentagon spokesman said: “We have no information to corroborate those reports.” The circumstances surrounding his alleged death were also questionable. It struck experts as unlikely that so many high-level ISIS leaders would all meet together in the middle of a military hot zone, making themselves vulnerable to a targeted strike. And, of course, al-Baghdadi has a reputation for getting “killed” or critically injured, over and over again.

And now there’s a new report. On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent and well-regarded agency that monitors the civil war in Syria from London, claimed that al-Bahgdadi’s had been killed. The group said it received “reliable information from a first-line commander of the ‘Islamic State’ organization and second-line commanders of the organization, descended from the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor” who confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. Deir Ezzor is a region in eastern Syrian near the Iraqi border where ISIS is under siege. Those sources indicated that al-Baghdadi had, within the last three months, been in a village in that area. But it was unclear, based on the Observatory’s information, when or how, exactly, al-Baghdadi may have died.

Al-Baghdadi’s latest rumored death still hasn’t been confirmed by U.S. officials, but it appears the Pentagon is giving more respect to this report. “I really don’t know,” Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, who commands the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, said. “I don’t have reason to believe that he’s alive. I don’t have proof of life.”

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition also told reporters that while it couldn’t confirm the Syrian Observatory’s report, they “hope it was true.” He also warned: “We strongly advise ISIS to implement a strong line of succession, it will be needed.”

Yet ISIS has not made any announcement about its leader, though as experts have pointed out, it might not be eager to affirm such a huge symbolic defeat.

Chatter on the ISIS channels appear to be borrowing from the playbook of the American president, calling any such reports of al-Baghdadi death a brand of “fake news:”

But al-Baghdadi’s possible death probably matters little in the larger battle against ISIS. Little is known about the “ghostlike” commander, an Iraqi who first dabbled with Al Qaeda there before busting onto the scene in 2014 to declare ISIS a caliphate from the pulpit of the al-Nuri Grand Mosque in Mosul (which was recently destroyed by ISIS fighters). He hasn’t been heard from since November, when he allegedly issued an audio recording. In the months since, the U.S. has managed to knock out many of ISIS’s top operatives. It’s also unclear what, if any, strategic role al-Baghdadi has had in the battles for Mosul and Raqqa. But the ideology he espouses is still thriving — even as ISIS has suffered territorial losses and battlefield defeats, it continues to inspire adherents, and has launched attacks around the world in recent weeks. Al-Baghdadi may be dead, or he may be alive, but either way, a replacement is waiting.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is confirmed dead, according to information from tribal leaders close to ISIL in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate. In June, Russia said it had "most likely" killed al-Baghdadi and several other high profile ISIL leaders in an airstrike but provided no evidence.