But despite the demise of its physical caliphate and its leader, IS remains a battle-hardened and well-disciplined force whose enduring defeat is not assured. Baghdadi - real name Ibrahim Awwad ...

An IS outlet announced on the messaging service Telegram that Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi was the group's new leader and "caliph". US special forces tracked down Baghdadi in north-west Syria ...

al-Baghdadi turned an early affinity for Quranic recitation into a grandiose claim to be the caliph, or theocratic leader fit to rule an Islamic empire. While his control of captured oil fields ...

The mystery begins in 1931, in Nice on the French Riviera, when the last caliph of Islam was in exile. In November of that ...