Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed, declared US president Donald Trump on Sunday during an official announcement made at the White House.
Trump praised the US army personnel who carried out the night time raid which took place in north western Syria stating that they accomplished their mission in grand style. He described the death of Baghdadi stating that “He died after running into a dead-end tunnel whimpering and crying and screaming all the way.”
It was also revealed that several ISIS fighters and companions of Baghdadi were killed, including two women and three of his children. While Trump did not provide an exact number of casualties, he described those targeted on the scene as “more dead than alive”. However, eleven children were moved out of the house uninjured, the president said.
The announcement came following media reports speculating the death of the terror group leader awaiting a DNA confirmation. Trump however, said “immediate” and “totally positive” test results proved it was Baghdadi, saying a lab technician on the scene of the raid confirmed the ISIS leader’s death.
Prior to his death, Baghdadi had been in hiding for the last five years until April of this year where a man purporting to be Baghdadi appeared in a video which was released by the ISIS media wing al-Furqan.
