By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - Defense Secretary James Mattis said Friday the U.S. can’t confirm claims Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Daesh's proclaimed "caliph", is dead.
"We assume he's alive until it's proven otherwise. And right now, I can't prove it otherwise," Mattis told reporters. "If we knew, we would tell you. Right now, I can't confirm or deny it."
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was the latest group to claim Baghdadi is dead when it said earlier this week sources within Syria's Deir ez-Zour city had confirmed it.
Last month, Russia claimed it had likely killed Baghdadi in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Daesh's Syrian capital, Raqqah.
The U.S. has placed a $25 million bounty on Baghdadi's head.