Baghdadi would sometimes hold strategy talks with his commanders in moving minibuses packed with vegetables in order to avoid detection, Ismael al-Ethawi told officials after he was arrested by Turkish authorities and handed to the Iraqis.

Fugitive Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died “whimpering and crying” in a raid by US special forces in northwest Syria, President Donald Trump announced yesterday, fulfilling what he called his top national security goal.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights tells Reuters that it had "confirmed information" that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed.

Russia's Defense Ministry says it was checking information that a Russian air strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa may have killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in late May.

The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution to "redouble" action against Islamic State, following last week's deadly attacks in Paris. The French-drafted document urges UN members to "take all necessary measures" in the fight against IS.

Senior Iraqi intelligence officials warned coalition countries of imminent assaults by the Islamic State group just one day before last week's deadly attacks in Paris killed 129 people, according to reports.

Eight senior figures from Islamic State were killed in an air strike while meeting in a town in western Iraq, but the group's reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did not appear to be among them.

A deputy leader of Islamic State (IS), Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, has been killed in a US military strike in northern Iraq, the White House says.

Kayla Mueller, who was killed in February while held hostage by Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, was sexually abused by the group's top leader.

The Islamic State group on Thursday released an audio message purportedly from its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has not been seen or heard from in months.