Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (Arabic: أبو بكر البغدادي; 28 July 1971 – 26 October 2019), born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, was an Iraqi militant Islamist who was the founding leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), and later the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a Salafi jihadist militant terrorist organization that aims to create a Sunni Islamic state. He was often referred to as Amir al-Mu'minin (أمير المؤمنين), or "Commander of the Faithful". Al-Baghdadi was notorious for his brutal tactics and the rapid expansion of his group's territory across Iraq and Syria, declaring a worldwide caliphate in 2014. He was killed in a U.S. military raid in northwestern Syria in 2019. In Hebrew, he is referred to as אבו בכר אל-בגדאדי. Other relevant translations include: Turkish: Ebu Bekir el-Bağdadi; French: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; German: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; Russian: Абу Бакр аль-Багдади.