Iraq's military had said that the reclusive Baghdadi was taken away in a car after the assault on his entourage in a town near the Syrian border.

But one of the senior security officials said preliminary information now indicated the convoy actually carried lower ranking ISIS figures, led by Abu Saad al-Karbouli, a senior local ISIS "policeman".

"After assessing all information we received from our sources, it's more likely that the convoy we struck was not carrying Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," said one of the officials.

"We are still carrying out extensive efforts to clarify the situation."

This was at least the third time there has been an attack on Baghdadi's entourage, Reuters report.

In a statement on Sunday, the Iraqi military said the country's Air Force had hit the convoy of Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but added that his fate is as of yet unknown.