Russia verifying whether it killed IS leader in airstrike

BEIRUT (AP) — Russia said today it was verifying whether it had killed the leader of the Islamic State group in an airstrike targeting a meeting of IS leaders just outside the group's de facto capital in Syria, dealing a potentially severe blow to the extremist group as it fights to hang on to its strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

The spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition said he would welcome such news, but urged caution.

"There have been several past claims of this kind that have been proven false and we have seen no definitive proof that this report is true either," U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon said.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a Russian strike in late May along with other senior group commanders, adding that the information about his death was still "being verified through various channels."

Asked later about that claim at a news conference in Moscow, however, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said: "I don't have a 100-percent confirmation of the information."

There had been numerous reports in the past of al-Baghdadi being killed but they did not turn out to be true. The IS leader last released an audio on Nov. 3, urging his followers to keep up the fight for Mosul as they defend the Iraqi city against a major offensive that began weeks earlier.

The spokesman for the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition said in a statement today he could not confirm the Russian claim.