WEB DESK
US President Donald Trump has said that the leader of the Islamic State militant group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has died in a US military operation in Syria.
Trump gave details of the mission at a news conference at the White House on Sunday. The President said US special operation forces conducted the raid targeting the leader in the northwestern province of Idlib on Saturday.
He said Baghdadi fled into a tunnel as US troops closed in and killed himself by detonating an explosive vest he was wearing.
Trump said capturing or killing Baghdadi had been the “top national security priority” of his administration. He said the world is now a much safer place.
In 2017, Russia’s defence ministry said an air raid may have killed Baghdadi. But audio recordings of what were said to be Baghdadi’s voice appeared online.
In April this year, the militant group posted a purported video of Baghdadi online calling for the continuation of attacks.
The United States has been conducting sweeping operations against the Islamic State group, which proclaimed the establishment of a caliphate in a region straddling Syria and Iraq in 2014