ISIS honcho al-Baghdadi may have escaped Mosul and gone into hiding, officials say
(FOX)- The man who called the shots for the Islamic State in Iraq for years may have escaped Mosul in a desperate bid to stay alive, U.S. and Iraqi officials reportedly said Wednesday.
Noting that official communications from terror leaders have gone silent as the U.S.-backed Iraqi military pushes deeper into Mosul, the officials told Reuters Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi could very well be hiding in the desert somewhere. Still, they’ve said pinpointing his exact location could be near impossible.
What’s more, al-Baghdadi has been known to stay on the move. The officials said the terror honcho has likely asked to hide among his supporters in desert villages, instead of staying too close to the deadly fighting in more urban regions.
More specifically, he could be in a desert area north of the Euphrates river, populated by Sunni Arab tribes, analyst Hisham al-Hashimi, who has advised the Iraqi government, told Reuters.
“It’s their historic region, they know the people there and the terrain; food, water and gasoline are easy to get, spies are easier to spot.”