US doubles reward for Baghdadi to $25m

The US-led international coalition has distributed leaflets in the western region of Iraq announcing that a reward of $25 million is available for information that could lead to the arrest of Daesh leader, Ibrahim Awwad Al-Badri, also known as Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

An Iraqi army colonel told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site that “American warplanes have been surveying the Iraqi desert”, adding that Al-Baghdadi’s picture was distributed to the desert nomads and residents in the nearby regions.

Asked if Al-Baghdadi is hiding in the Iraqi desert, the colonel said: “There are indications that he might be hiding in the desert area and we hope that he is in the desert area. We have completely surrounded the desert from five axes. If he has escaped to the Syrian side; if we receive confirmation that Al-Baghdadi is indeed on the Syrian side, there are orders from Baghdad to cross into the Syrian territory.”

“The international coalition prefers to arrest Baghdadi and not to kill him,” he explained.

Tribal leader in the anti-Daesh forces, Faisal Al-Assafi said: “The Americans believe that Baghdadi or his senior aides are in the desert, so they are concentrating on the desert in the hope of finding him.”

Read: Daesh’s Baghdadi sighted in Syria