TEMPO.CO, Baghdad - An ISIS senior member has declared himself as a new leader of the militant group. The decision was a result of the reports on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death, a news agency in Iraq reported.
"Abu Haitham al-Obaidi, deputy to the Islamic State's mayor of Hawija, dissented from the group and named himself a new Caliph after Baghdadi's death reports were confirmed," said Jabbar al-Maamouri, leader of militia group Popular Mobilization Forces, the Daily Mail quoted Iraqi News on Wednesday, July 12.
Maamouri said that Hawija is preparing for a bloody fight among ISIS members, "the most violent one since the group took over the city in June 2014."
It has also been reported that IS has confirmed the death of Baghdadi in a statement as a conflict between the group's senior figures broke out.
Alsumaria News reported that the militant group has been arresting people and imposing night curfews in an attempt to suppress the fighting. On Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over ISIS in Mosul, the city where Baghdadi first declared the caliphate in 2014.
On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said that ISIS' "top-ranking commanders" had confirmed Baghdadi's death. Meanwhile, the Pentagon said it had no information to corroborate the claims.
The US' Anti-ISIS Coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon added said they haven’t been able to confirm Baghdadi's death, but "hope it is true."
DAILY MAIL | IRAQI NEWS | FOX NEWS | SITA PLANASARI AQUADINI
