text: Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been seriously injured in an air strike and is no longer in control of the terrorist group, according to an Iraqi source. The source said that he was wounded by an attack from the US-led coalition while travelling in a three-car convoy in March in Nineveh, Iraq. At first his chances of survival were deemed by his lieutenants to be low, but he pulled through. Scroll down for video . Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured) has been seriously injured in an air strike and is no longer in control of the terrorists, according to an Iraqi source . However, he was left so weakened that his inner circle reportedly mooted the idea of naming a new leader. He is slowly recovering but does not have the reins of the organisation, according to The Guardian. Two officials confirmed to the paper that the strike on the convoy did indeed take place, on March 18 in the al-Baaj district of Nineveh, not far from the Syrian border. One, a Western diplomat, told the paper that Coalition generals weren’t sure whether al-Baghdadi was in the convoy. News of the attack follows contradictory accounts of al-Baghdadi being killed in air strikes in November and December . Another, an Iraqi expert on Isis used by the government in Baghdad in an advisory capacity, revealed that he had in fact been wounded. He said: ‘Yes, he was wounded in al-Baaj near the village of Umm al-Rous on 18 March with a group that was with him.’ This area is known to be largely lawless and a hotbed of jihadi activity, with very little Coalition air presence. Raffaello Pantucci, Director of International Security Studies for defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, told MailOnline that it’s entirely plausible that the infamous leader had been hit, but warned that it might not have a long-term impact on the group if he didn't survive. He said: ‘We’ve heard these stories before. It's possible, as they would be going after him and they would be trying to drone him, but it’s right to be suspicious. 'If he was killed it would have a big effect on the group as a lot of the group is wrapped up in his identity. The whole of Islamic State is built on success and if the leader is bumped off it’s harder to say you’re winning. ‘But it’s quite a resilient group. They would do a PR piece on it and say he’s gone to a better place – but coherence often comes from leadership. ‘However, it would not mean the end of the group by any stretch.’ Last year there were two reports that Baghdadi had been wounded, but they turned out to be inaccurate. He escaped death in December when US jets attacked a two-car convoy on the outskirts of Mosul. His close aide Auf Abdul Rahman al-Efery was killed when a rocket fired from a war plane hit one of the cars. Baghdadi was believed to be in the second car, which was not hit. Figures from February showed allied airstrikes, including those carried out by British warplanes, had killed more than 6,000 fighters since September. The figure included more than half of the militants on the IS ruling council. Among the dead jihadists was also Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, a former Iraqi army lieutenant colonel considered Baghdadi’s number two and the most senior IS militant in Iraq. His death and that of as many as nine others on the 18-man leadership council forced Baghdadi to promote local warlords to the status of regional commanders, as his inner circle of trusted advisers and battle-hardened loyalists became increasingly small. Baghdadi, 43, was the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq before founding the Islamic State in Iraq in 2010, while he was declared head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2013. In June last year, the Islamic State declared itself a caliphate, with al-Baghdadi declared as its ‘Caliph’ or ruler.
target: Iraqi source said he was wounded after his three-car convoy was attacked .
  Air strike is thought to have taken place on March 18 near Syrian border .
  He is slowly recovering but reportedly does not have reins of the group .