MOSUL, Iraq - A spokesman for the Islamic State, or ISIS, has denied a Western media report that Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the terror group's self-claimed “caliph," was seriously wounded by an airstrike, a Rudaw correspondent in Mosul has said. “The rumors of the Caliph of Muslims, [Abu Bakr] Baghdadi, being injured by coalition airstrikes have no basis,” Abu Assad Ansari, an ISIS spokesman and cleric reportedly said during a Friday sermon in Mosul. “He is in Anbar and is commanding the war against Safavids [a term for Shiite fighters],” he added. The remarks come after a report on Tuesday by the UK's Guardian claimed Baghdadi suffered a life-threatening injury in March during an air attack launched by the US-led coalition. The report alleged that Baghdadi had not yet "resumed day-to-day control of the organization." Neither claim could has been confirmed.
