Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — the leader of ISIS (i.e. the Islamic State) — has been seriously injured in an airstrike in western Iraq, according to sources of the British newspaper the Guardian.

The information can be traced back to an informant in Iraq, who disclosed that the brains of ISIS suffered life-threatening wounds at the hands of a United States-led coalition airstrike back in March close to the Syrian border, but has since slowly recovered.

It was so bad for a while though, according to the source, that the upper levels of ISIS met to discuss naming a new leader in anticipation of Baghdadi’s inevitable death. While that’s no longer the case currently, he still hasn’t recovered the reigns of day-to-day operations within the terrorist organization.

More from the Guardian:

The diplomat confirmed an air strike on a three-car convoy had taken place on that date between the village of Umm al-Rous and al-Qaraan. The attack targeted local Isis leaders and is believed to have killed three men. Officials did not know at the time that Baghdadi was in one of the cars.

 

Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi official who advises Baghdad on Isis, told the Guardian: “Yes, he was wounded in al-Baaj near the village of Umm al-Rous on 18 March with a group that was with him.”

 

Baghdadi is understood to have been spending much of his time in al-Baaj, about 200 miles west of the Isis stronghold of Mosul. “He chose this area because he knew from the war that the Americans did not have much cover there,” said a source privy to some of Baghdadi’s movements. “From 2003 (the US military) barely had a presence there. It was the one part of Iraq that they hadn’t mapped out.”