ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi target of US raid in Syria
Published : 27 Oct 2019, 18:10
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was the target of a US military raid in northwest Syria, a senior US defense official told CNN.
It is unclear whether Baghdadi survived the attack. However, Newsweek, citing a senior US Army official, said the ISIS leader was killed, reports The Indian Express.
The CIA had reportedly helped locate Baghdadi, who has been in hiding for the last five years.
The development comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s scheduled announcement on Sunday at 9 a.m (local time). On Saturday night, Trump tweeted “Something very big has just happened!”
The mission was approved by US President Donald Trump almost a week before it took place, Newsweek said.
In February 2018, several US official claimed that Baghdadi was wounded in an airstrike in May 2017 and was forced to give up control of ISIS while he recuperated. He became leader of ISIS in 2010.
A video purportedly featuring Baghdadi was released by ISSI media wing in April this year. It was the first time Baghdadi was seen after his address from the Great Mosque in Mosul in 2014.