THE Islamic State appears to have confirmed its spiritual leader was among a group of senior commanders injured and killed in air strikes at the weekend.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry intelligence official told The Associated Press overnight that the strike happened early Saturday in the town of Qaim in Iraq’s Anbar province. The official, citing informants within the militant group, said the strikes wounded al-Baghdadi.

RELATED: Claims IS caliph critically injured

A senior Iraqi military official also told AP he had learned in operational meetings that al-Baghdadi had been wounded.

I reiterate once again that Caliph Ibrahim Hafizhullah is alive and well, the information about his injuries are false. It's a credible info — الشیخ احمد العجمي (@sheikhajmee) November 9, 2014

Yesterday, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder said the US had reason to believe a convoy of 10 vehicles attacked at the weekend was carrying several Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) leaders.

He could not confirm if caliph al-Baghdadi was among them.

ATTENTION: all Islamic State Supporters do not reply to any false news about the khilafah its entrapment — State of Islam (@Dawla_accountt) November 8, 2014

Reports from Mosul, an Iraqi city over run by the terrorist organisation in June, state that the bodies of up 50 militants had been delivered to the city’s morgue after the air strike.

A spokesman for the Islamic State appears to have confirmed the leader of the terrorist organisation was among those injured and killed in air strikes at the weekend.

Mohammed al-Adnani appears to have been the first to break ranks after the order went out to Islamic State spokespeople not to discuss the fate Islamic State jihadist group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

وهل تظنون بأن الخلافة تنتهي باسشهاد الخليفة؟ نطمئن الأمة بأن أميرها أبو بكر البغدادي بخير ولله الحمد ادعوا له بالشفاء العاجل #دعاء — أبو محمد العدناني (@Al_3dnani) November 9, 2014

“Do you think that succession ends Baschad Caliph? Reassure the nation that the emir, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s okay and (wish) him a speedy recovery,” a Twitter message cited by Middle Eastern news sources reads.

The account @Al_3dnani has been widely reported to be fake. As yet, IS hasn't released any message about Baghdadi's rumored death or injury. — Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) November 9, 2014

Al-Adnani is one of the Islamic State’s most prominent spokesmen, often issuing speeches and statements declaring the organisation’s policies.

Several Twitter accounts of IS mouthpieces have also been posting suggestions that prominent commanders had been killed or injured, while reassuring concerned jihadists that there is a ‘planned succession’ for if the caliph is killed.

Commander Khattab and commander Abu al-Waleed, may Allah accept them both. pic.twitter.com/uF6Kj5YuyA — DawahAkh (@DawahAk) November 9, 2014

EFFORT TO ESTABLISH FATE

Iraq government sources confirmed overnight it was investigating whether al-Baghdadi was killed.

The death of the elusive Baghdadi would be a major victory for the coalition of countries carrying out air strikes against IS and aiding Iraqi forces fighting to regain large areas of Iraq that the jihadists have overrun.

@ArmedResearch Also listed killed are Ahmad Atallah (#Baghdadi bodyguard), Abu Abdel rahman al-Shishani (Chechen) & Nasser al-Dahery — Military Studies (@ArmedResearch) November 9, 2014

The announcement of the strikes came after President Barack Obama unveiled plans to send up to 1500 more US troops to Iraq to advise and train the country’s forces, deepening Washington’s commitment to the open-ended war against IS.

“Until now, there is no accurate information available,” a senior Iraqi intelligence official told news agency AFP when asked about whether Baghdadi had been killed.

#Iraq; now the Interior Ministry is saying that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been wounded by coalition airstrikes which left other leaders dead. — Grendizer (@SumerRising) November 9, 2014

“The information is from unofficial sources and was not confirmed until now, and we are working on that,” the official said without specifying what the initial reports indicated.

US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, on Saturday said that coalition aircraft conducted a “series of air strikes” against “a gathering of (IS) leaders near Mosul”.

Think not of those who are killed in the Way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive, with their Lord, and they have provision. 3:169 — DawahAkh (@DawahAk) November 9, 2014

“We cannot confirm if (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present,” said Centcom spokesman Patrick Ryder.

The US-led strikes early on Saturday Australian time were a further sign of “the pressure we continue to place on the ISIL terrorist network,” he said, using another acronym for the Islamic State group.

Operational video of a U.S. airstrike against an #ISIL logistics base west of Mosul, #Iraq, Oct. 27: http://t.co/xBkTfyvTNR — U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 29, 2014

The aim was to squeeze the group and ensure it had “increasingly limited freedom to manoeuvre, communicate and command”.

“I can’t absolutely confirm that Baghdadi has been killed,” General Nicholas Houghton, the chief of staff of the British armed forces, told BBC television on Sunday. “Probably it will take some days to have absolute confirmation.”

$10 MILLION BOUNTY

Washington has offered a $10 million reward for his capture, and some analysts say he is increasingly seen as more powerful than Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The Iraqi government responded on Saturday to announcements from the US and other countries that trainers would be sent to the country, saying in a statement that: “This step is a little late, but we welcome it.”

The government had requested that members of the international coalition help train and arm its forces, the statement said.

“The coalition agreed on that and four to five Iraqi training camps were selected, and building on that, they have now begun sending the trainers,” it said.

The new troops announced by Obama would roughly double the number of American military personnel in the country to roughly 3100.

Multiple Iraqi army divisions collapsed in the early days of the jihadist northern offensive, leaving major units that need to be reconstituted.