Baghdadi death near 100pc certain: Russian senator

The likelihood that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed is close to 100 percent, Interfax news agency quoted the head of the defence committee in Russia's upper parliamentary house as saying yesterday.

Russia's defence ministry said a week ago it believed it may have killed Baghdadi when one of its air strikes hit a gathering of senior Islamic State commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa.

But armed groups fighting in the region and US officials say they have no evidence that Baghdadi was killed, and many regional officials have said they are sceptical about the information from Moscow.

Committee head Viktor Ozerov was quoted as saying the defence ministry would not have released information about Baghdadi's death if it believed it could be later proved incorrect.

"I think this information is close to 100 percent," Interfax quoted Ozerov as saying. "The fact that Islamic State has still not shown him anywhere also adds to our confidence that al-Baghdadi has been killed."

Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew himself up yesterday among civilians fleeing Mosul's Old City, where Iraqi forces are gaining ground against jihadists mounting a fierce but desperate defence.

Ahmed Hashem, a major and medic in the Iraqi army speaking to AFP from a field hospital, said the attack took place in the Mashahda neighbourhood of the Old City.

In Anbar, another suicide bomber blew himself up yesterday, killing at least eight civilians and a soldier, officers said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday US-led coalition air strikes on two Syrian provinces targeting jihadists have killed 472 civilians over the past month, more than double a previous 30-day toll.

The period between May 23 and June 23 saw the highest civilian death toll in coalition raids for a single month since they began on September 23, 2014.