Russia has claimed killing the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group in an air strike targeting a meeting of ISIL leaders just outside the fighters' de facto capital in Syria.
The air strike was launched after the Russian forces in Syria received intelligence that an ISIL meeting was being planned, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Friday.
"On May 28, after drones were used to confirm the information on the place and time of the meeting of [ISIL] leaders, between 00:35 and 00:45, Russian air forces launched a strike on the command point where the leaders were located," the statement said.
"According to the information which is now being checked via various channels, also present at the meeting was [ISIL] leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was eliminated as a result of the strike."
The strike is believed to have killed several other senior leaders of the group, as well as about 30 field commanders and up to 300 of their personal guards, the Russian statement said.