Russia’s defence ministry is investigating whether one of its air strikes in Syria killed the leader of the Islamic State militant group (IS)

Russia’s defence ministry is investigating whether one of its air strikes in Syria killed the leader of the Islamic State militant group (IS)

The ministry said an air strike may have killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and up to 330 other fighters on 28 May

It said the raid had targeted a meeting of the IS military council in the group’s de-facto capital of Raqqa, in northern Syria

Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition fighting IS, said the US could not confirm whether Baghdadi had been killed

A statement by Russia’s defence ministry published by the state-funded Sputnik news agency said 30 IS commanders and up to 300 soldiers were at the Raqqa meeting

"According to information that is checked through various channels, IS leader Ibrahim Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed as a result of the strike, was also present at the meeting," it added

Reuters reported that he was recently believed to have been "hiding in thousands of square miles of desert"