Aftermath of US Raid on IS Leader

Video shot by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, Sunday, October 27, allegedly shows the aftermath of the raid by U.S. special forces targeting Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northwest Syria.

A U.S. military special forces operation in northwest Syria successfully targeted and “violently eliminated” Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, President Donald Trump announced in a nationally televised Sunday morning address.

“Last night the United States brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to justice,” said Trump, speaking from the Diplomatic Room of the White House, explaining that the IS leader detonated a suicide vest in a tunnel, also killing three children.

“When he blew himself up, the tunnel collapsed,” said Trump.

“No [US] personnel were lost in the operation,” but a large number of al-Baghdadi’s fighters were killed and others were captured, according to Trump. He said the Islamic State leader, who was hiding in a tunnel tried to flee, “was screaming, crying and whimpering” in his last moments.

Since 2016, the United States had offered a reward of up to $25 million for information to help bring Baghdadi to justice. Only one other person, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, has a reward that high.