Russia says it may have killed IS leader

Russia claims its forces may have killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an air strike in Syria last month. 

The secretive Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has severally been reportedly killed or wounded since he declared a caliphate to rule over all Muslims from a mosque in Mosul in 2014, after leading his fighters on a sweep through northern Iraq.

If the report is true, it would be one of the biggest blows yet to Islamic State, which is trying to defend its shrinking territory against an array of forces backed by regional and global powers in both Syria and Iraq.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on its Facebook page that it was checking information that Baghdadi was killed in the strike on the outskirts of Raqqa in Syria, launched after Russia received intelligence about a meeting of Islamic State leaders.