Al-Baghdadi (Photo : Getty Images)
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled "caliph" of the Islamic State formed by the terrorist group ISIL, is reportedly in serious condition after having been poisoned in an assassination attempt, according to Iraqi and Russian media.
The murderous al-Baghdadi had eaten poisoned food along with three other top ISIL commanders in the Be'aaj district, located southwest of Nineveh.
"There were intelligence reports that Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and three leading commanders consumed food containing poison," said Arabic-language Iraqi Media News Agency, WAA, citing an informed source.
The source said the four men, including al-Baghdadi, are "suffering from severe poisoning" and are being treated at an unknown location.
ISIL, also known by the derogatory Arab word Daesh has launched a wave of arrests to find those responsible for poisoning al-Baghdadi.
ISIL refuses to be labeled Daesh because this word sounds similar to the Arabic words "Daes" or "one who crushes something underfoot" and "Dahes," which, translated, means "one who sows discord."
The notorious ISIL caliph has been reported killed before, the last being this June when he was said to have died of his wounds from a U.S. air strike in Raqqa, capital of the Islamic State. While surviving this attack, Al-Baghdadi was severely injured in this drone strike.
The poisoning of al-Baghdadi comes at an ill moment from ISIL since the Iraqi Army, its militia allies and the U.S. are set to launch an offensive to seize the ISIL-held city of Mosul this month. Mosul is the last city ISIL occupies in Iraq.
The fall of Mosul will set the stage for a campaign to take Raqqa in Syria by 2017. The fall of Raqqa will mean an end to organized ISIL resistance in Iraq and Syria.
The United States is deploying 600 more of its soldiers to Iraq to support the Iraqi army's forthcoming offensive against the city of Mosul this month. The additional 600 men will bring the total number of U.S. soldiers in Iraq to over 5,100.
Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iraqi forces will be ready to recapture Mosul by early October. The Americans will assist Iraqi and Kurdish forces that will lead the fight to retake Mosul and ISIL's shrinking territory in Iraq.
American attack aircraft are currently softening up Mosul with almost daily air strikes against ISIL positions and troop concentrations.
The U.S. military is planning an offensive against Mosul, a Sunni city, in stages. In early October, the Iraqi Army and its militia allies will retake northern Nineveh province from ISIL with the final battle in Mosul at month-end. Experts believe the rising number of aerial attacks supports the upcoming effort by the U.S. and Iraq to retake Mosul.
Mosul had a population of two million in its metropolitan area before ISIL seized the city in June 2014. Mosul is probably defended by 4,000 ISIL fighters, who are turning the city into a killing zone packed with IEDs and booby traps.
