ISIS assigns former physics teacher to replace injured leader al- Baghdadi
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
(IraqiNews.com) The American magazine ‘Newsweek’ revealed on Wednesday, that the ISIS group has assigned a former physics teacher as an interim leader of the organization, after the injury of its current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The newspaper quoted an advisor to the Iraqi government, Hisham al-Hashemi as saying, “The so-called Abu Alaa Afri, who was Vice-President of al-Baghdadi, has been assigned as the alternative leader of the terrorist organization ISIS in the absence of al-Baghdadi,” noting that, “As al-Baghdadi was injured, Afri began to head the terrorist group with the help of officials from other provinces.”
Hashemi stated that, “Afri is from al-Khidr area in Mosul and rose through the ranks of ISIS to become more prominent in the terrorist group, and even more important than al-Baghdadi himself”, adding that, “Afri was nominated by bin Laden, after the death of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri, to be the Amir of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.”
It is believed that Afri traveled to Afghanistan in 1998 before pledging allegiance and becoming a senior leader of al-Qaeda in 2004, according to the newspaper.
British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ reported that the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is no longer able to manage the terrorist group, while he is trying to recover from a serious injury in an aerial raid western Iraq.
The US Department of Defense ‘Pentagon’ confirmed that the US military sees there is no reason to believe that al-Baghdadi was injured.
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