Al-Baghdadi certainly injured, says Syrian envoy to Russia

St Petersburg: Amid the media reports which emerged last week and claimed that IS chief Abu Bakr-Al-Baghdadi was killed in a US airstrike, Damascus's envoy to Moscow on Friday said, "I definitely know that he (Baghdadi) was wounded".

Ambassador Riyad Haddad told Sputnik magazine that there was no clear information on his killing. However, he asserted that "in near future not only Baghdadi, but also other Islamic Stete) members will be killed".

The ambassador added that a meeting of Syrian and Russian defence ministers was currently being planned. "Indeed, one minister should visit the other, the place and the date are not known yet, but we have such plans."

Earlier this year, various reports emerged about Baghdadi's injures or death. In April, US Department of Defence announced that Baghdadi was alive, and was travelling between Syria and Iraq.

Baghdadi is the leader of Islamic State, which is a designated terrorist organisation and outlawed in many countries, including the US and Russia.