ISIS leader survived coup attempt - report

As ISIS makes its last stand in Syria, a reported coup attempt may signal internal strife in the radical jihadist group.

By BEN BRESKY
Updated: FEBRUARY 8, 2019 14:42
A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be 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 fr (photo credit: REUTERS FILE PHOTOS)
A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be 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 fr
(photo credit: REUTERS FILE PHOTOS)
The leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has survived an attempted coup last month by foreign fighters in eastern Syria, the Guardian reported. According to intelligence sources, the jihadist organization has since promised a large reward for whomever kills Abu Muath al-Jazairi, the rival fighter believed to behind the attempt.
The reported attempt on the life of al-Baghdadi is to have taken place on January 10 in a village near Hajin in Syria, one of the last ISIS strongholds in the area. The attack killed two people. While ISIS has now explicitly implicated al-Jazairi in the attack, the step of placing a monetary reward for a fellow fighter's life is unusual.
"They got wind of it just in time," the Guardian reported an intelligence source as having stated. "There was a clash and two people were killed. This was the foreign fighter element, some of his most trusted people."
Although little is confirmed about the Iraqi-born Isis leader, he is believed to have earned a doctorate for Islamic studies in Quranic studies from Saddam University in Baghdad before joined the radical Islamic group that calls for a worldwide Muslim caliphate. Al-Baghdadi ascended as the leader of ISIS in 2010.
Reports of his death in 2017 were declared false.