Iraqi air force 'kills 77' in strikes aimed at IS leader Baghdadi Published duration 13 February 2017

image copyright AP image caption Baghdadi last delivered a public message in November

The Iraqi air force has killed 13 commanders of so-called Islamic State in a strike on a building in Qaim where leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was thought to be, a statement said.

Baghdadi's name was not on a list of the dead published by the military.

At least 64 lower-ranked IS fighters were killed in a wave of strikes in western Iraq, the statement added.

The military said Baghdadi moved last week in a convoy from Raqqa, in Syria, to the region of Qaim, over the border.

The IS leader was supposedly meeting other senior commanders to discuss a possible successor, as well as the group's military situation in its Iraqi stronghold, Mosul.

Baghdadi, whose real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri, last delivered a public message in November , urging IS fighters not to retreat as Iraqi forces advance on Mosul.

He has been reported wounded and even dead several times in the past.

IS is locked in a protracted battle with Iraqi forces for control of Mosul and has lost all of the city's eastern side.

The group lost almost a quarter of its territory in 2016, according to research published earlier this month.