page_title: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
hierarchical_section_title: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
caption_attribution_description: English: Mugshot of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi taken by US armed forces while in detention at Camp Bucca in the vicinity of Umm Qasr, Iraq, in 2004.
context_page_description: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, was an Iraqi terrorist and the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from 2014 until his death.
  Baghdadi was born in or near Samarra, Iraq and obtained graduate degrees in Islamic theology in the late 1990s and 2000s. He joined early Salafi-jihadi groups in Iraq following the US invasion in March 2003 and was detained with Al Qaeda commanders at the American Camp Bucca in 2004. He joined al-Qaeda in Iraq there and rose through the ranks until he was appointed emir — the highest leader – in 2010. Al-Qaeda in Iraq reorganized and renamed itself into Islamic State in Iraq during this time. In 2013, Baghdadi defied the guidance of Al-Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and expanded ISI into Syria. In June 2014, the group permanently broke with al-Qaeda, renamed itself the "Islamic State", and declared itself a caliphate. Baghdadi was chosen caliph of ISIL by the Shura Council, who represented those members of the Islamic State qualified to elect a caliph.
  Baghdadi's claim to be "caliph" was almost universally rejected by the Muslim community.
context_section_description: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Arabic: أبو بكر البغدادي‎), born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai (Arabic: إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي‎; 28 July 1971 – 27 October 2019), was an Iraqi terrorist and the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from 2014 until his death.
  Baghdadi was born in or near Samarra, Iraq and obtained graduate degrees in Islamic theology in the late 1990s and 2000s. He joined early Salafi-jihadi groups in Iraq following the US invasion in March 2003 and was detained with Al Qaeda commanders at the American Camp Bucca in 2004. He joined al-Qaeda in Iraq there and rose through the ranks until he was appointed emir — the highest leader – in 2010. Al-Qaeda in Iraq reorganized and renamed itself into Islamic State in Iraq (ISI) during this time. In 2013, Baghdadi defied the guidance of Al-Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and expanded ISI into Syria. In June 2014, the group permanently broke with al-Qaeda, renamed itself the "Islamic State", and declared itself a caliphate. Baghdadi was chosen caliph of ISIL by the Shura Council, who represented those members of the Islamic State qualified to elect a caliph.
  Baghdadi's claim to be "caliph" was almost universally rejected by the Muslim community. ISIL was designated as a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and almost all sovereign states, and Baghdadi was individually considered a terrorist by the United States and many other countries. As leader of IS, Baghdadi led and lost the Islamic State's wars against Iraq and Syria. Baghdadi directed the use of extremely controversial tactics, including the mass use of suicide bombings and the execution of prisoners of war. ISIL briefly captured substantial territory in Iraq and Syria, but lost almost all of its territory and fighters during Baghdadi's tenure as emir.
  Baghdadi would become directly involved in ISIL's atrocities and human rights violations. These include the genocide of Yazidis in Iraq, extensive sexual slavery, organized rape, floggings, and systematic executions. He directed terrorist activities and massacres. He embraced brutality as part of the organization's propaganda efforts, producing videos displaying sexual slavery and executions via hacking, stoning, and burning. Baghdadi himself was a rapist who kept several personal sex slaves.
  On 27 October 2019, Baghdadi killed himself and two children by detonating a suicide vest during the Barisha raid, conducted by the United States, in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province. After being offered Islamic funeral rites, his body was buried at sea. ISIL confirmed his death and named Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as his replacement.
caption: A mugshot photo of Baghdadi detained at Camp Bucca, Iraq, 2004
exif: {}