Baghdad: Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has admitted defeat in Mosul, the terror group's biggest stronghold in Iraq, and has ordered militants to either flee or kill themselves in suicide attacks, the media reported.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a "farewell speech" to his combatants in battlefields, ordering them to "flee and hide in mountainous areas" in Iraq and Syria, Iraqi News reported on Wednesday. The text of the speech was disseminated among other speakers to read out to fighters at various areas in western Mosul.