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http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0S61II20151012
CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,one of the world's most wanted men,is counting on veteran jihadis and former Iraqi army officers who form the core of the militant movement to take over if he is killed.
New questions arose over Islamic State's leadership structure and who might succeed Baghdadi after Iraq's military said on Sunday air strikes had hit a convoy carrying him,though Iraqi security officials later denied this.
Baghdadi,who rarely appears in public and delivers few audio speeches,makes the vast majority of decisions,including which of the group's enemies should be killed.
His approval is needed even for decisions taken by the five-member Shura Council,which runs Islamic State and will elect a new a new leader if Baghdadi is killed,and he rules over a decentralized network of emirs in the field who run the everyday activities of the caliphate he has declared.
Baghdadi does,however,lean on a small circle of senior Islamic State aides such as Abu Mohammad al-Adnani,the group's official spokesman,as he pursues a mission which his fighters describe as "part of God's path to create a strong Islamic State that will rule the world."
CAIRO/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,one of the world's most wanted men,is counting on veteran jihadis and former Iraqi army officers who form the core of the militant movement to take over if he is killed.
New questions arose over Islamic State's leadership structure and who might succeed Baghdadi after Iraq's military said on Sunday air strikes had hit a convoy carrying him,though Iraqi security officials later denied this.
Baghdadi,who rarely appears in public and delivers few audio speeches,makes the vast majority of decisions,including which of the group's enemies should be killed.
His approval is needed even for decisions taken by the five-member Shura Council,which runs Islamic State and will elect a new a new leader if Baghdadi is killed,and he rules over a decentralized network of emirs in the field who run the everyday activities of the caliphate he has declared.
Baghdadi does,however,lean on a small circle of senior Islamic State aides such as Abu Mohammad al-Adnani,the group's official spokesman,as he pursues a mission which his fighters describe as "part of God's path to create a strong Islamic State that will rule the world."