Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (aka Abu Dua), the lead player of Isis/IsiL, was little known before 2010 when he became leader of al-Qa’ida in Iraq after the death of the previous leadership group in an attack by a combined force of United States and Iraqi forces. It is believed that his real name is Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai and that he is a Sunni, and was born in Samarra in 1971. He has a University of Baghdad degrees in Islamic Studies, including history, poetry and genealogy. He was an American prisoner in Bocca Camp, in southern Iraq, from 2005 – 09, probably as a result of activities as a militant preacher, with his own militia in Diyala province, in support of Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, President of Iraq 16 July 1979 – 9 April 2003.