(CNN) Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, in unusually revealing comments, told Charlie Rose in an interview broadcast Thursday that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "moves around" and that his "days are numbered."

In a PBS interview with Rose, Carter was asked if the US knew where al-Baghdadi was and he responded, "If I knew exactly where he was -- first of all, I wouldn't tell you and, second of all, he wouldn't have long. He moves around."

Carter added, "I'm just confident. I don't want to say any more than that, but I wouldn't want to be a senior ISIL leader. Many of them have died already. The more we do, the more we learn about where they are. So, his days are numbered and that's true of all the rest of the leadership."

Rose followed up and asked if Al-Baghdadi's days were numbered, Carter replied, "Absolutely."

CNN reported on December 29th that a US official said, "In the last few weeks we've been aware of some of Baghdadi's movements."

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