US yet to confirm IS leader’s status after strike

A female fighter of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) uses a pair of binoculars as she looks towards areas controlled by Islamic State fighters in the southern countryside of Ras al-Ain November 9. Photo: Reuters

The United States cannot yet confirm whether the Islamic State commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed or wounded in Iraq following an air strike near the city of Falluja, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday.

Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes was speaking on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing.

There have been contradictory accounts out of Iraq following U.S. air strikes on Friday night about whether Baghdadi was wounded.