He is the most wanted terrorist in
the world, with a $10m (£6.5m)
bounty on his head. But 44-year-
old Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the
leader of the feared Isis terror
organisation, was less than
outstanding in his youth,
according to information
unearthed by researchers in
Germany.
The man who has declared himself
“caliph” of a new “Islamic State”
had to repeat a year at school
because he was so bad at English,
investigators have discovered. He
was turned down for the Iraqi
army, despite being a member of
the Sunni minority favoured by
the regime of the country’s
dictator, Saddam Hussein, because
he was too short-sighted – and
then failed to win a university
place to study law. Instead, he
opted for Islamic theology, a
subject whose study – perhaps
combined with his earlier
experiences – contributed to
radicalising his views.
Apart from two photographs, few
details had previously emerged
about the background of the Isis
leader. But the Süddeutsche
Zeitung newspaper and Germany’s
ARD television channel revealed
new details yesterday after
interviewing residents of Samarra,
Baghdadi’s home town in Iraq,
where he went to school, played
football in its narrow streets, and
gave children Koran lessons.
“They called him the believer,”
ARD quoted residents as saying.
Former neighbours, who
requested anonymity, revealed
that Baghdadi – the third of four
sons born to a devout Sunni
Muslim family – was ambitious
even then. “He loved power and
being influential,” one neighbour
said. “But we were all completely
shocked to suddenly see him as
the ‘caliph’.”
He was rated as an average pupil
at the town’s grammar school and
his school matriculation marks
were too low for Baghdad
university to accept him on its law
course. But after eight years
studying Islamic theology, he
emerged with a PhD degree in
1999.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung said his
university doctorate helped him
rise to become Isis leader and
enabled him to construct a
“theological justification” for the
organisation’s brutality.
“Terrorism is honouring Allah” –
it cited him as saying. ...

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/from-secondrate-schoolboy-to-worlds-most-wanted-man-the-rise-of-the-caliph-of-terror-10057818.html