Middle East

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi allegedly killed in top-secret operation: Pentagon

The United States military has conducted a special operations raid against Daesh Takfiri chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Newsweek reports.

According to a senior Pentagon official familiar with the operation and Army official briefed on the matter, a “high value ISIS (Daesh) target” – believed to be Baghdadi – was targeted during a top-secret operation in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Saturday.

The Joint Special Operations Command carried out the raid after receiving actionable intelligence, according to sources familiar with the operation.

The senior Pentagon official told Newsweek that a brief firefight happened when US forces entered the compound, but then Baghdadi killed himself by detonating a suicide vest.

According to Pentagon sources, two Baghdadi’s wives were killed in the raid, but no children were harmed.

The Defense Department told the White House they had “high confidence” that the target killed was Baghdadi, who was long thought to hiding somewhere along the Iraq-Syria border.

US President Donald Trump, who approved the mission nearly a week before it took place, posted a Twitter message hinting at “very big” news.

According to the White House, the president is expected to make a “major statement” Sunday at 9:00 a.m. local time.

Meanwhile, Iraq says it was informed by sources in Syria that the ringleader had been killed, according to two Iraqi security sources who spoke to Reuters on Sunday.

“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,” said one of the sources.

The apparent attack on Abu Bakr Baghdadi came after Trump announced on October 6 that the US would be withdrawing its forces from northeastern Syria, clearing the path for an expected Turkish incursion into the region.

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