IS social media channels have not confirmed President Donald Trump’s announcement on Sunday that Baghdadi had been killed in a US raid in Syria, nor alluded to potential successors. Aymenn Jawad Tamimi, an academic and expert on militants, also identified the elusive Hajj Abdullah as a potential successor. “He turns up in leaked IS documents as a deputy of Baghdadi and to my knowledge, he is not dead,” Tamimi said. A months-old statement attributed to IS propaganda arm Amaq but never officially adopted by the group said he was selected to replace Baghdadi even before Trump’s declared the self-proclaimed “caliph” dead. With Baghdadi gone, “IS affiliates have a chance to switch allegiances or simply not re-pledge their allegiance to Baghdadi’s successor,” said Nate Rosenblatt, a researcher and jihad expert.

Source: The Express Tribune October 28, 2019 18:00 UTC