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(Image: GETTY/SH)

Major General Rupert Jones questioned claims made the Russia that it had killed the ISIS leader in an airstrike outside Raqqa.

The top commander tackling jihadis in the Middle East said there was "no evidence" to support claims that al-Baghdadi was dead.

Vladimir Putin's forces claim they are near 100% certain the ISIS warlord is dead – pointing to the fact he has yet to appear in propaganda since the alleged killing.

Major General Jones, one of the deputy commanders of the Combined Joint Task Force, spoke about Baghdadi at a briefing at the US Embassy in London.

He said the coalition would be "delighted" if the claims were true, but added Baghdadi is becoming a "distant" figure in the increasingly leaderless caliphate.

The task force is a global organisation which is leading the efforts against ISIS in the Middle East.

(Image: SH)

(Image: CTF)

The Major General said: "There have been multiple claims over the months of people having killed al-Baghdadi.

"We have no concrete evidence to support that – it goes without saying we would be delighted if that were confirmed true, but we cannot confirm it at this stage."

Russia's defence ministry have said "this information is close to 100%" – claiming to have wiped out a meeting of senior ISIS leaders on the outskirts of Raqqa.

The Brit commander said: "Baghdadi alive or otherwise is an increasingly remote figure. A great many of his loyal lieutenants have been killed.

"If you are a [ISIS] fighter right now in Mosul or Raqqa, I do not think you feel like you are being particularly led and I think you will feel you have been deserted, isolated and you will know what your fate is."

However, Major General Jones could not confirm when the last "proof of life" of Baghdadi was – and described him as being "driven underground".

ISIS's so-called "caliph" declared the caliphate in a speech at the Great Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul back in 2014.

This week, ISIS blew up the building as the face defeat at the hands of the Iraqi Army.

Major General Jones said ISIS fighters are "being killed" quicker than they can replenish their forces as US-led coalition nears victory in Iraq and Syria.