Al Qaeda's mastermind killed in Aleppo

Jihadist social media pages and rebels confirmed killing of Hajji Baker, top commander of the State of Iraq and The Levant (ISIL).

A photo of the slain Hajji Baker posted online by rebel group, Mujahedeen of Northern Aleppo countryside, purporting that his real name Samir Abed Mohamed, a former colonel in the Iraqi army.

For long time, Baker has been  considered as the ISIL’s mastermind and the first military commander, sources said.

 Sheikh Abdullah al-Mouheisni, the powerful commander in the ISIL revealed two days ago more information over the kidnapping case of Hajji Baker’s wife who had been arrested by Islamists rebels week ago.

Mouheisni said via social media that the women with her children under Al Tawhid brigade custody in Azaz, Aleppo countryside.  “They are safe, there are no signs for torture or insult,” he said.

Al Tawhid commander in Azaz says according to Mouheisni that rebels are pursuing a swap deal to exchange their detainees by baker’s wife.

Nearly 1,400 people have been killed in Syria since clashes between rebel forces and the jihadist (ISIL) erupted this month, AFP reported.

“The number of people killed in fighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Islamist and rebel forces since January 3 has risen to 1,395,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Clashes between rebels and jihadists from ISIL erupted early in January after months of rising tensions.

While opposition fighters initially welcomed foreign jihadists to the battle, ISIL has been accused of a string of abuses against civilians and rival rebel groups.

Among the abuses that sparked the fierce clashes was the kidnap, torture and execution by the group of a doctor from a powerful Islamist rebel brigade, AFP said.

The all-out fight has seen ISIL lose territory in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, but it has consolidated its hold over Raqa city, the only provincial capital to fall from regime control.