ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi, critically injured in US airstrikes

The leader of the Islamic State (ISIS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has reportedly been critically wounded following a US airstrike on a gathering of th terrorist group leaders in Syria.

Witnesses and local government sources described how an aircraft had swooped over a meeting of senior ISIS figures in the town of al-Qaim,near the Syrian border and dropped bombs killing more than a dozen people.

Local ISIS officials were reportedly roaming the streets with loudspeakers ordering residents to donate blood to help the wounded, which included al-Baghdadi, who were taken to a local hospital.

Striking Baghdadi would be the most significant blow yet in the campaign against the terrorist organization who before now had not been shaken by sustained air attacks from the U.S. Air Force and allies.

Iraqi security officials as well as the US military did not comment on the reported raid.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has approved sending up to 1,500 more troops to Iraq, roughly doubling the number of U.S. forces on the ground, to advise and retrain Iraqis in their battle against Islamic State.