A 'sick and depraved man', Trump said, "Baghdadi died like a dog".
United States (US) President Donald Trump today confirmed before the media that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, has been killed in a US military operation in Syria. Trump said that Baghdadi was the leader of the most ruthless and violent terror organisation anywhere in the world and he was killed in an operation carried out by American forces.
"Last night the United States brought the world's number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organisation anywhere in the world," Trump told media.
Elaborating on the details, US President Donald Trump said that Baghdadi had committed suicide by detonating a suicide vest inside a tunnel following a two-hour-long gunfight with US forces. He added that the IS chief was "whimpering and crying and screaming all the way."
A 'sick and depraved man', Trump said, "Baghdadi died like a dog".
"Baghdadi and the losers who worked for him, and losers they are, they had no idea what they were getting into. In some cases, they were very frightened puppies. He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place. God bless America," Trump noted.
No US Army forces were killed in the raid and the troops had "accomplished their mission in grand style," Trump added.
Earlier in the day, several media reports came in suggesting Baghdadi's death after a cryptic tweet by US President Donald Trump. "Something very big has just happened!" Trump had announced, without giving any details.
It was first reported by Newsweek which said that the United States military conducted a special operations raid targeting one of its most high-value targets and al-Baghdadi was believed to be killed.
President Trump approved the mission nearly a week before it took place, the report said.
In April this year, al-Baghdadi had appeared in a video released by terror group's media arm Al Furqan for the first time in five years.
In the 2014 video, he had declared the captured territory in Syria and Iraq an Islamic "caliphate".
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