UK: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi escapes Mosul

Islamic State’s reclusive chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has escaped from the terrorist group’s stronghold of Mosul as the Iraqi Army advanced for a final assault, British foreign secretary Boris Johnson said on Friday.

He said western intelligence sources believed Baghdadi was no longer in Mosul, The Guardian reported.

Baghdadi on Thursday broke his year-long silence and issued an audio recording, urging his jihadists to continue their fight to the end in Mosul, where he was believed to be hiding.

Johnson, in an unusual reference to intelligence, said Baghdadi’s audio recording was “cruelly ironic since some of the intelligence we have suggests he had himself vacated the scene and is yet using internet media to encourage others to take part in violence.”

The battle for Mosul was expected to end in a decisive defeat for the terrorist group, but Baghdadi’s escape is likely to complicate matters for Iraqi and coalition forces.

Johnson said the recapture of Mosul, in the face of IS’s “scorched earth campaign”, would take time.

Giving an update to British parliament on the fight against IS, Mr Johnson also said efforts were under way to prevent sectarian violence being unleashed as the group was ousted from Mosul and surrounding towns such as Tal Afar.

He said 30,000 civilians had fled the city and the UN had plans in place for as many as 90,000 refugees. But he accepted there were also reports that citizens would be used as human shields to raise the human cost of Iraqi Army incursions deeper into the city.