Abdullah Qardash is the most touted name as leadership rumours continue to circulate – and terrorism expert Kyle Orton believes that he could prove to be just as ruthless and violent as his predecessor. He told Express.co.uk: “When the US put a bounty on him in August, it was mentioned that he was one of the lead ideological forces behind the genocide against the Yazidis. “That would make sense given his background, he is from Tal Afar in Iraq which is west of Mosul, an area where the Yazidis operate close by, and during the Nineties it was the centre of the Jihadi underground.
“One of the sparks of the violence was the population of the Yazidis whom they deemed were to be killed, and the Shia who they didn’t think of as much better.
“He has a background in this conflict that occurred in the region.”
The genocide led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Yazidis from their ancestral lands in Northern Iraq whose women and girls were forced into sexual slavery by ISIS and whose men were killed by the thousands.
Yazidi women were abducted and massacres killed 5,000 Yazidi civilians.
Some sources also say that Qardash was a security officer in Saddam Hussein’s regime in Baghdad, although that remains unclear.
Mr Orton also indicates his appointment could see ISIS take an unconventional step, adding: “He is a likely replacement.
“There have been claims from a dissident faction of ISIS that he will take over as leader.
“The big problem he has is that he is apparently a Turkmen from Tal Afar (Iraq), rather than Quraish, which is the tribe you need to be from to be Caliph (leader).
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The rumours have erupted after al-Baghdadi’s death last weekend, in which he reportedly blew himself up with a bomb vest.
Al-Baghdadi was confirmed dead by Trump on Sunday, with the President claiming that the ISIS leader had “died like a dog” and “a coward” after he detonated his suicide vest while fleeing into a tunnel, chased by US military dogs.
Al-Baghdadi took over the leadership of ISIS in April 2010, back when it was still an underground offshoot of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The terror group seized large chunks of Syria and Iraq in 2014-15 under his leadership.
He was previously active in the insurgency against US troops following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.