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Leader of Iraq insurgents is jihad's rising leader

11 June 2014 20:50 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The leader of radical Sunni fighters who have made rapid military advances in Iraq is the rising star of global jihad, driven, Islamist fighters say, by an unbending determination to fight for and establish a hardline Islamic state, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, commander of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), now controls large parts of eastern Syria and western Iraq, a vast cross-border haven for militants in the Sunni Muslim core of the Middle East.

Despite his power - and a $10 million U.S. reward for information leading to his capture - little is known about a man who for his own survival has shunned the spotlight.

Fighters from ISIL and its rivals who spoke to Reuters praised Baghdadi as a strategist who succeeded in exploiting turmoil in Syria and Iraq's weak central authority after the U.S. military withdrawal to carve out his powerbase.

He has proved ruthless in eliminating opponents and showed no hesitation in turning against former allies to further his ambition of creating an Islamist state.

Enemies, even those from rival radical groups who broadly share ISIL's religious ideology, are fought and defeated. Captured fighters - and non-combatants - are usually shot or decapitated, their deaths recorded in grisly videos which inspire fear and revulsion among opponents.

"In short, for Sheikh Baghdadi, each religion has its state except Islam, and it should have a state and it should be imposed. It is very simple," said one of his non-Syrian members, speaking from inside Syria.