Islamic State's self-declared caliph Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi is believed to be still inside Mosul city even as the Iraqi Army has entered the city for the first time in over two years, a report said.

Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, said in an interview with The Independent that his government had information from multiple sources that “Baghdadi is there and, if he is killed, it will mean the collapse of the whole IS system.”

The Mosul battle is likely to end in a decisive defeat for IS.

Baghdadi has kept himself concealed for the last eight or nine months according to Hussein, who added that he had become very dependent on IS commanders from Mosul and Tal Afar, a city just to the west of Mosul.
Many senior figures in IS, particularly those from Syria and other countries, have been killed since their initial triumphs in the summer of 2014 when they took over much of northern Iraq and eastern Syria.

Meanwhile, Iraqi special forces are holding their positions in Mosul a day after entering the city.

Amid poor visibility for the US-led aircraft and drones that have backed Iraqi forces in their assault on the country’s second largest city, special forces general Haider Fadhil told Associated Press no new advances within Mosul were planned for Wednesday.

Fighting continued on the southern approaches to the city, where Iraqi troops took four small villages.