‘Most wanted’ list of ISIS’ most feared commanders released… proving the terror group is still producing waves of fanatics ready to fill the boots of dead leaders
A MOST wanted list of ISIS terrorists has been published by Iraqi authorities - headed by elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his number two.
A rogues' gallery of other senior jihadis shows the on-the-run terror group is still attracting waves of fanatics ready to step into their shoes.
The list names 14 dangerous fugitives linked to ISIS - also known as Daesh.
At the top of the most wanted chart is al-Baghdadi, who declared himself Caliph in 2014 after ISIS seized control of swathes of Syria and Iraq including oil city Mosul.
He is listed under his real name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai.
Al-Baghdadi's second in command Abu Alaa al-Afari is identified by his real name Abdel-Rahman al-Qaduli.
The list also includes seven other Iraqis and a number of foreign ISIS fighters: two Saudis, a Jordanian, a Yemeni and a Qatari.
It was the second such list published by Iraqi authorities after 60 terror fugitives were identified on Sunday.
A security official told news agency AFP: "They are more dangerous than those who appeared on the first list published Sunday and they are wanted internationally whereas the others are wanted only by the Iraqi courts."
The first list named 28 members of ISIS, 12 from al-Qaeda and 20 from the remnants of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party - including the dictator's daughter Raghad, who lives in neighboring Jordan.
Iraqi authorities have accused her of aiding and abetting ISIS as well as money laundering.
Former regime members with proven ties to ISIS also appeared on the lists. They included the fugitive Fawaz Mohammad Mutlaq, a former officer in Saddam’s paramilitary organisation.
He later became a member of the ISIS military council, according to news channel al-Jazeera.
Al-Baghdadi was seriously wounded in an airstrike near Shirkat in early 2015, three intelligence agencies confirmed.
He has been reported dead dozens of times but is believed to have fled Mosul as US-backed Iraqi troops drove ISIS out of the city.
In September last year ISIS released a recording of the shadowy leader, and in November a Lebanese paramilitary group said it believed he had been spotted in the eastern Syrian town of Abu Kamal before it was liberated.
In January it was claimed he had fled to a remote hideout in Africa - although other reports say he is likely in Iraq's Anbar province.
ISIS has lost most of its territory in a massive pushback in the last three years.
But reports today say it has regrouped and has returned to launch attacks in areas of in Iraq and Syria from where they were driven out by government and Kurdish forces more than a year ago.
MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS
Analysts said ISIS is expoiting sectarian conflicts and corruption in Iraq to rebuild the insurgency.
In Syria they have seized villages from rebel groups after they suffered losses in Russian air strikes, reporrts The Times.
Last week Britain's top counter-terrorism policeman warned children raised by ISIS monsters in Syria could return to commit atrocities in the UK.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.