Report: ISIS leader survived coup attempt by foreign fighters

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Militant video, File)

Intelligence officials believe that a coup attempt was made last month against Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but he survived, and now there's a bounty on the head of the senior foreign fighter thought to have been behind the plot, The Guardian reports.

ISIS only has control over a tiny portion of land near the city of Hajin in eastern Syria, and there are an estimated 500 ISIS militants left in the area. Intelligence officers believe that on Jan. 10, a group of foreign fighters tried to make a move against al-Baghdadi, which led to a shootout with his bodyguards, The Guardian reports. They were able to flee with al-Baghdadi, and ISIS is now offering a reward to anyone who kills Abu Muath al-Jazairi, a veteran foreign fighter.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.