Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last appeared in 2014 during a sermon at the Great Mosque in Mosul. The speech marked the rise of self-declared "caliphate" of IS in Iraq and Syria.
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Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and said his state is ready to bear all expenses for the safe return of Punjabis kidnapped presumably by Islamic militants in oil-rich Mosul town of strife-torn Iraq.
A Muslim youth, one of the four from Kalyan on the outskirts Mumbai who left their homes and joined the Islamic State also known as ISIS in Iraq, has been reportedly killed.
The Indians, including 39 construction workers abducted by the Islamic State militants over two months ago in conflict-hit Mosul town of Iraq, are "unharmed", external affairs ministry said on Thursday.
This is the tenth meeting between Swaraj and the families since the abduction of the Indians from the war-torn country in June 2014.
Forty Indian in the in violence-hit Iraqi city of Mosul could not be contacted, the external affairs ministry said on Wednesday amid reports of abduction.
Subahani Haja Moideen told NIA investigators that on his return, he collected money, procured explosives and plotted to target tourists and judges in Kerala.
"Everyone knows me because of that terrible tragedy. My memories of Mosul only bring me sadness. How can I be proud about my fame? I lost everything there," Harjit Masih told Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt over the phone.
The second-in-command of the dreaded Islamic State militant group has been killed in a United States air strike in northern Iraq, the White House has said.
In a forceful statement in the Lok Sabha, Swaraj rejected allegations that she misled the country.
'Not just the angry families, but also the public will remember Swaraj's foreign ministership for this colossal lapse of judgment,' notes Karan Thapar.
Congress MPs Ambika Soni, Pratap Bajwa and Shamsher Singh Dullo said they would move a motion against Swaraj in the Upper House after compiling documents and information on the issue.
"The minister told us that she would meet the CMs of the four states from where the Indians belonged to take a decision on possibility of providing a government job to the next of kin."
The fate of Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was reportedly targetted during airstrikes last weekend in Iraq, is still not known.
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The dreaded ISIS has decided to cut the salaries of its fighters by half blaming the "exceptional circumstances", a sign of worsening financial situation of the outfit.
Victory in Ramadi deprives Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015.
The government on Tuesday said four youth from Maharashtra have disappeared after leaving for Mosul from Baghdad in Iraq.
The location of the 40 Indian construction workers kidnapped in Mosul town of strife-torn Iraq has been identified by Iraqi authorities, the government said on Thursday.
Iraq's National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie said the bombings bore the hallmarks of insurgent leader and Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Sixteen Indians stranded in violence-affected areas of Iraq have been evacuated even as one of the 40 abducted Indians has fled from the captors in Mosul town which is under the control of the militants.
She said no government can declare anyone dead without proof and her government does not believe in the theory of 'missing, believed to be killed'.
The families of nurses stranded in war-torn Iraq hint that they have been moved to Mosul; New Delhi says it's in touch with the nurses. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Sunni rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria -- who have stormed Iraq's big cities like Mosul and Tikrit, taken over its largest oil refinery and slowly marching on to Baghdad, leaving a trail of blood and death -- as a part of its image-building has done something only major corporations do at the end of the year: issues annual reports, outlining its attacks, assassinations and terror acts.
Ambassador Chinmaya Gharekhan explains the situation in Iraq and Syria in this interview to Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Vicky Nanjappa / Rediff.com spoke to Indian worker Ahmed who managed to escape from Mosul before the ISIS invaded the Iraqi city
Melbourne-born Prakash, who was linked to several Australia-based attack plans and calls for lone-wolf attacks against the US, was killed in an airstrike in Mosul.
Forty six Indian nurses initially stranded at a hospital in Tikrit and later moved to Mosul have been freed by the fighters of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The United States military has conducted air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant near Irbil and Iraq's largest dam in an effort to help Kurdish forces retake it from violent extremists.
The families said their hopes of getting any clue about the men who went missing in Iraq's Mosul city were almost shattered after listening to the statement of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in Parliament on Wednesday.
Supporters posted messages encouraging each other to carry out more such attacks.
The families say Swaraj was a constant source of support and helped them bring back the mortal remains of their loved ones which finally gave them closure.
The minister is expected to bring back the bodies by Monday.
An earlier report had said Baghdadi had been injured in an air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul while travelling in a convoy with other senior IS figures.
"I am not giving false assurance. If I had confirmation that they were killed, then definitely, I would have sought apology from their families the with folded hands and said they were killed. Their killing in such a situation in Mosul in Iraq would not have been blamed on me.
Subahani Haja Moideen, an Indian alleged to be an Islamic State operative, knew the terrorists who carried out the attack inside a theatre in Paris last November killing over 100 people but has feigned ignorance about the deadly plot, it has emerged from investigations.
Dreaded Islamic State terror group has purportedly opened its own 5-star hotel complete with 262 rooms, restaurants, ballrooms and gym in Iraq's Mosul city for its Jihadist commanders, according to a media report.
The Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has not demanded ransom nor has it shown any inclination to negotiate. Vicky Nanjappa/Rediff.com reports
Barack Obama is expected to ask for India's support to create a global coalition against ISIS when he meets Narendra Modi on Monday. Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com reports from New York.
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