U.S. says cannot confirm status of Islamic State leader after strike

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States cannot yet confirm whether the Islamic State commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed or wounded in Iraq following an air strike near the city of Falluja, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes was speaking on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing. There have been contradictory accounts out of Iraq following U.S. air strikes on Friday night about whether Baghdadi was wounded. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Writing by David Stanway; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)