The Iraqi military claims to have struck the convoy of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an air raid in Western Anbar province near the Syrian border.
"The Iraqi air force carried out a heroic operation targeting the convoy of the criminal terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," an Iraq security forces statement said.
Baghdadi was on his way to Karabla to attend a meeting with Daesh commanders, the statement read, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. A number of the group's leaders were reportedly killed or wounded.
The fate of the extremist leader is unknown. Baghdadi has declared himself the head of a caliphate in areas his ultrahardline Sunni group controls in Iraq and Syria.
Anti-Islamic State coalition spokesman U.S. Col. Steve Warren said U.S. officials have "seen the Iraqi statement about al-Baghdadi but have no information that confirms it."
Iraqi claims Baghdadi had been injured or killed in past strikes were not verified or were later denied.
