NEW DELHI: The enigmatic leader of the jihadist group Islamic State ( ISIS ) is recovering after being seriously injured in an air strike in March, UK's Guardian quoting sources reported.

According to the report, al-Baghdadi was injured in March this year in a US-led coalition air attack on the jihadists at al-Baaj district of Nineveh, close to the Syrian border. It also says al-Baghdadi suffered near-fatal wounds initially and since made a slow recovery. However, he is yet to resume his day-to-day control of the jihadist group.

Al-Baghdadi, an ambitious Iraqi jihadist believed to be in his early 40s, has a $10 million US bounty on his head. Since taking the reins of the Islamic State in 2010, he has transformed it from a local branch of al-Qaida into an independent transnational military force, positioning himself as perhaps the pre-eminent figure in the global jihadist community.

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Earlier in November 2014, Iraqi officials too reported al-Baghdadi was injured in an air strike without elaborating. This, however, was never confirmed.

Following this, ISIS released a defiant audio recording that it said was of al-Baghdadi, after air strikes on jihadist leaders in Iraq sparked rumours he had been wounded or killed.

In the 17-minute message, the man purported to be Baghdadi vowed that ISIS will continue to expand despite international air strikes, and that its opponents will be drawn into a ground war.

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A US-led coalition has been launching air strikes on the group and its facilities in Iraq and Syria for months as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive. The ISIS had gained ground across northern and western Iraq in a lightning advance in June and July last year, causing several of Iraq's army and police divisions to fall into disarray.

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Read this story in Hindi: आईएस आतंकी सरगना अबू बक्र अल बगदादी हवाई हमले में घायल