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    'We will get him': the long hunt for Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

    The world’s most wanted man remains at large, but as his ‘caliphate’ has crumbled so has the discipline of his leadership
    by Martin Chulov Middle East correspondent Jan 15, 2018 5 minutes
    Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi addresses Muslim worshippers at a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. Photograph: -/AFP/Getty Images

    Day and night for the past three years, an unprecedented number of the world’s spies have zeroed in on a patch of Iraq and Syria to hunt for one man. Their target, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State terrorist group, has eluded them all. But only just.

    The most wanted man on the planet has been traced to a specific place at least three times in the past 18 months alone. And despite the protection of a devoted network, there have been other sightings of the reclusive leader, reported by Isis members shortly afterwards and confirmed later by intelligence officers. Being a fugitive in the digital age, or in a losing cause, clearly has its shortfalls.

    One 45-second mistake on 3 November 2016 almost cost Baghdadi his “caliphate” before its collapse last year. As Iraqi and Kurdish forces advanced on Mosul,

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