EXCLUSIVE – Gaza Jihadi Claims Islamic State Leader Baghdadi Still Alive Amid Unconfirmed Death Reports

A top Gaza jihadi has denied media reports that the leader of the Islamic State organization, Abu Baker al-Baghdadi (pictured), may have been killed in battle in the Iraqi flashpoint city of Mosul.

According to several media reports mostly emanating from the Middle East, an air raid targeted a convoy possibly transporting Baghdadi, which may have resulted in his death.

One Arab news media report claimed that the IS leadership in Mosul petitioned the organization’s headquarters in Raqqa, Syria, to send a delegation with a view to appointing a new leader.

Abu Baker Almuhajer, a member of a Gaza-based pro-IS organization named the Shura Council of the Mujahideen, told Breitbart Jerusalem that based on his regular contact with IS officials, “these reports are false.” He added that only the IS leadership can announce the death of its commanders, as it did when IS leaders Mohammed al-Adnani and Abu Omar Alshishani were killed.

Almuhajer did not offer any evidence that Baghdadi was still alive.

“The infidel countries, including the United States, say every couple of months that some IS leaders have been killed, but it always turns out to be a lie,” he said. “When it actually happens, our brothers in the leadership announce it.”

“Our leaders embarked on the road to jihad expecting to die as martyrs, and not to hide or to have their death as martyrs glossed over,” he said.

“It’s not new that they spread disinformation. According to them, the battle of Mosul should have ended a month ago, the Kurdish infidels should have taken Raqqa and our mujahedeen in the north of Syria should have been imprisoned or killed, while in fact they fight like lions backed by Allah.”

“If Allah chooses him to be a martyr, the assassination of the caliph would mean nothing to the Islamic State organization. The Islamic State is here to stay, spread the caliphate and Allah’s sharia. It’s hardly surprising that nonbelieving and tyrannical Muslims collude with the Crusaders to prevent that from happening, but Allah’s will is stronger. We don’t have bombers of aircraft carriers, but we have Allah and faith-filled mujahedeen, and we shall triumph. Even the Prophet, peace be upon him, when he launched his wars against the infidels he was powerless but eventually Allah served the believers with victory, which will be the case here as well.”