Islamic State leader Baghdadi dead: Reports
Will broadcast footage from the US raid, says Iraqi state media
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi is believed to have been killed in a US military operation in Syria, sources in Syria, Iraq and Iran said on Sunday, as US President Donald Trump prepared to make a “major statement” at the White House.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Baghdadi was targeted in the overnight raid but was unable to say whether the operation was successful. A commander of one of the militant factions in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib said Baghdadi was believed to have been killed in a raid after midnight on Saturday involving helicopters, warplanes and a ground clash in the village of Brisha near the Turkish border.
Two Iraqi security sources and two Iranian officials said they had received confirmation from inside Syria that Baghdadi had been killed.
“Our sources from inside Syria have confirmed to the Iraqi intelligence team tasked with pursuing Baghdadi that he has been killed alongside his personal bodyguard in Idlib after his hiding place was discovered when he tried to get his family out of Idlib towards the Turkish border,” one of the Iraqi officials said.
Iraqi state television said it would broadcast footage from the raid. US magazine Newsweek, which first reported the news, said it had been told by a US Army official briefed on the raid that Baghdadi was dead. It said the operation was carried out by special operations forces after receiving actionable intelligence. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine people were killed during the two-hour raid, including two women and likely at least one child.