IS leader al-Baghdadi believed to have been killed

Washington: News reports have suggested that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS) terror group, was believed to have been killed in a raid conducted by the American military in northwest Syria.

CNN reported of the development citing a senior US defence official and an informed source as saying of the incident that took place on Saturday.

However, a final confirmation was pending, while DNA and biometric testing was being conducted, both sources told CNN.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has tweeted "something very big has just happened", shortly after the reports were out.

Baghdadi has made only one public appearance, in July 2014, in the al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, which was retaken by Iraqi security forces in June 2017.

IS has since released various audio messages that it claims are from Baghdadi -- most recently, one in September 2017 that appeared to make reference to news events that happened after Russia claimed he was dead.

This August, the IS had released what it said was a new audio message from al-Baghdadi where he admitted that the IS groups were losing and that it was a test from Allah, saying they needed to stick together.