This file photo taken on July 5, 2014 shows the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, speaking in Mosul.

:: An Iraqi counter-terror official has told Al Arabiya.net that ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has fled Mosul and abandoned his soldiers, “leaving them to die.”

General Maan al-Saadi said Baghdadi has fled to an unknown location and could be plotting further international attacks.

Saadi said that ISIS has been majorly pushed back in Mosul and that the extremists “no longer feel they have a place” in the city following the liberation of many neighborhoods.

In March, Baghdadi issued a statement acknowledging the group’s defeat in Iraq, as he urged supporters to either hide or flee, Iraqi television network, Alsumaria, quoted local sources as saying.

According to the sources in the Iraqi governorate of Nineveh, Baghdadi’s statement was titled ‘farewell speech’ and was distributed among ISIS’ preachers and clerics.