Iraqi Forces Closing in on ISIS Leader

Iraqi forces are closing in on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to a report in the Independent.

Senior Kurdish officials said Tuesday al-Baghdadi was in Mosul, the city ISIS captured in 2014.

"Baghdadi is there and, if he is killed, it will mean the collapse of the whole [ISIS] system," Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, told the Independent in an exclusive interview Tuesday.

Mosul is located in northern Iraq and is the last major city under ISIS control. It is also the second-largest in the country. Iraqi special forces entered city limits Tuesday under fierce opposition and captured the state-run television building on the east side of the Tigris River.

"We are facing tough resistance," one special forces officer, Capt. Raad Hussein, told the New York Times by phone. "But we will get it."

Baghdadi had been in hiding for the past eight or nine months, according to the Independent.

Iraqi forces started their offensive into Mosul on Oct. 17. The New York Times is reporting ISIS fighters could retreat to the west across the Tigris River, a densely populated area, but officials are saying the fight could last months.

• Mosul Breached: Iraq Special Forces Say They Are Now in City

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