ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi speaks at a mosque in Mosul, Iraq.
Posted on 11/10/2014 11:45:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
CAIRO -- Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a jihadi organization based in Sinai Peninsula that has carried out several attacks targeting Egyptian security forces, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
News that ISIS had gained followers in Egypt came amid unconfirmed reports that it may have been dealt a serious blow in its heartland of western Iraq. U.S. officials have not confirmed the claims, but Iraqi officials say senior leaders of the group have been killed and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, may have been seriously wounded in U.S. airstrikes in recent days.
On Monday, the Pentagon went so far as to claim that the U.S. airstrike on the 10-vehicle convoy in northern Iraq last week was targeting ISIS "battlefield leaders," but not senior leaders like al-Baghdadi.
Spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, said Monday that U.S. officials are unable to confirm reports that al-Baghdadi was wounded. An Iraq Interior Ministry intelligence official told The Associated Press on Sunday that an Iraqi airstrike Saturday wounded al-Baghdadi during a meeting in the town of Qaim, near the Syrian border. That would be separate from the U.S. airstrike described by Warren, which happened near Mosul.
Warren said the U.S. is not specifically targeting al-Baghdadi anywhere in Iraq, but it is trying to degrade the group's ability to command its fighting forces.
"What's significant to me is that we hit a military convoy that we knew ISIS leadership was part of," said CBS News contributor Mike Morrell, the former No. 2 at the CIA. "Obviously if we got Baghdadi that's a good thing, but what's really important here is that we found a leadership target and we went after it."
"This was a convoy that we struck that we knew was a leadership convoy, that takes very good intelligence," said Morrell
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
As such, it is a glorified suicide cult with social media extensions.
Come join us on our death for Allah.
Not to worry. The White House and Senators McGraham are sending US officers to fill in the IS command vacancies.
Why is the US not targeting the leaders?
He has a fan! Must be related to Charlie Crist!
Barry is not going to bust his buds.
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