Pentagon says IS chief losing control of his troops

WASHINGTON, United States — The Islamic State group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is losing the ability to control his troops as the battle for Mosul rages on, a US military official said Thursday.

The IS group earlier released an audio message purportedly of Baghdadi urging his jihadi followers not to retreat as Iraqi security forces continue their push toward the northern Iraqi city.

Colonel John Dorrian, a spokesman for the US-led coalition attacking the IS group in Iraq and Syria, said although the military had not officially verified the recording’s authenticity, it was “clearly” an effort for IS leaders to communicate with fighters.

“One of the interesting things that we have seen in the English translation of this is that Baghdadi is saying, ‘Don’t fight amongst yourselves,'” he told reporters.

“This is the type of thing that a leader who is losing command and control and ability to keep everybody on the same page says. We don’t believe it is going to work.”

Rumors have abounded about the Iraqi jihadist leader’s health and movements but his whereabouts are unclear.

In June 2014, days after jihadist fighters swept across large swaths of Iraq, he made a rare public appearance in Mosul to announce the creation of an Islamic “state” straddling Iraq and Syria.

The “caliphate” has been shrinking steadily since last year, with Iraqi forces reaching Mosul — the jihadists’ last major stronghold in Iraq — earlier this week.

The coalition still doesn’t know where Baghdadi is, Dorrian said.

“If we knew where he was, he would be killed at once. So we don’t know where he is.”

The coalition has also seen a shrinking of IS propaganda, the colonel added, with the group’s publications dwindling from 700 in August 2015 to 200 this year.