Senior U.S. counterterror official says can't confirm Baghdadi killed

ASPEN, Colo., July 21 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said on Friday that he has seen no information confirming that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has been killed.

"I've seen nothing that would lead me to believe that the leader of ISIS (Islamic State) has been removed from the battlefield," said Nicholas Rasmussen, the director of the U.S. Counter-Terrorism Center. "We know a good bit. We just don’t have information that would confirm his death."

Rasmussen, speaking at the annual Aspen Security Forum, was responding to recent news reports that Baghdadi had been killed.