Fall of IS ‘caliphate’ admitted by the militant group

Militants of Islamic States (IS) have admitted that defeat in the city of Mosul during sermons that also revived suspicions regarding the death of the group’s supreme leader.

Abu Baraa al-Mawseli, one of Islamic State’s top leaders and the assistant ruler of Tal Afar town, west of the province, delivered a sermon during the Friday prayer in which he “surprisingly” admitted defeat in Mosul, as the source put it.

Abu Baraa also declared Tal Afar as “a temporary headquarter for the Caliphate”. 

At another sermon in the same town, Abu Qutaiba, another senior aide to IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, broke into tears when he came to mention the latter during the speech.

Source said, “He mumbled a few words afterwards that suggested Baghdadi’s death.”
Iraqi security officials have not verified the two incidents, but have confirmed the collapse of the group’s rule in Iraq by losing Mosul. 

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Thursday Islamic State’s defeat in western Mosul Old City, the group’s last bastion in the city from where it first declared its establishment in 2014.

Baghdadi’s only appearance was in a video clip showing him making the sermon proclaiming the establishment of an Islamist “caliphate” in the Old City’s Grand Nuri Mosque, and never showed up again. Speculations and clashing reports about his whereabouts and survival have been plenteous. Recently, Russia confirmed his death profoundly.