BAGHDADI’S DEATH: A MAJOR BLOW TO ISLAMIC STATE

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-baghdadi died during an overnight raid led by U.S. military forces in Syria, a further blow to a jihadist group that once held a swathe of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Where once they confronted armies, the extremist Islamist group’s adherents have in recent years staged hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks. In some cases, the group has claimed responsibility for atrocities such as bombings in Sri Lanka in April that killed more than 250 people.

Islamic State’s involvement is not always proven, but even if the link is ideological rather than operational, it is still seen as a security threat in many countries: operations against remnants of the Jihadist group, more than two years after its defeat. Sleeper cells have regrouped in provinces including Diyala, Sal ahudd in, an bar, kirkuk and Nineveh, where they have carried out frequent attacks, including kidnappings and bombings aimed at undermining the Baghdad government. Although cells operate mostly in rural areas, burning crops and extorting local farmers, in February, two people were killed and 24 wounded when a car bomb went off in Mosul, once the group’s capital in Iraq. The Pentagon said in January that IS was regenerating faster in Iraq than in Syria.analysts estimated earlier this year that about 2,000 active combatants now operate in Iraq. year, including targeting U.S. forces. Syrian Kurdish forces, who crushed the jihadists across the north and east with U.S. help, have said they believe sleeper cells mushroomed in eastern Syria. They have warned of the risk posed by holding thousands of militants in prisons, including foreigners from around the world.

That warning came into sharp focus this month when U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, opening the way for Turkey to launch an offensive targetting Kurdish fighters near its border. Turkey says it has captured some 200 IS detainees who fled prisons in the area of its offensive and has transferred them to other prisons under the control of Turkish forces and its Syrian rebel allies. President Tayyip Erdogan has said any IS prisoners will be brought to justice. Islamic State fighters still hold some ground in Syria’s remote central desert in territory otherwise held by the Damascus government.