Some background
"Baghdadi is believed to have been born in Samarra, north of Baghdad, in 1971, to a middle-class family and his relatives claim to be descendants of the Prophet Mohammed.
His father taught at a mosque and his family had ties to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party.
Two uncles were part of Saddam’s security services and two brothers served in the dictator’s armed forces.
It is thought he was already a militant jihadist during Saddam’s rule and he was held for four years at the US-run Camp Bucca in southern Iraq where many Al Qaeda commanders were also detained.
He emerged as the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, one of the groups that morphed into Islamic State in 2010, following the death of his predecessor Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.
Baghdadi’s prestige among Islamist fighters rose after he refused to swear allegiance to the leader of the Al Qaeda network, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He and his fighters have since openly defied the Al Qaeda chief, leading some to believe he now ranks higher in the eyes of many jihadists."