US President Donald Trump on Sunday unveiled full details of the military operation that led to the killing of Islamic State terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. "The serial killer who tried to intimidate others spent his last moments in anxiety, fear and panic, fearing that "American forces pounce on him, dogs and cowards are dead."
"Baghdadi was killed after escaping into a dead-end tunnel, reaching the end of the tunnel and blowing up his jacket, killing himself and his three children. The explosions mutilated his body, and the tunnel collapsed over it, but the results of the tests allowed him to be identified immediately," Trump said.
Trump said a large number of ISIS operatives were killed in the US operation.
For his part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that US helicopters dropped fighters on the ground, after midnight Sunday, as part of the operation targeting al-Baghdadi, noting that the operation, which took place in the village of Barisha in Idlib, northwest Syria on the border with Turkey, was involved in a clash with ISIS operatives.
Turkey said Ankara and Washington had been coordinated ahead of the Baghdadi operation, while the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they had cooperated with the United States in a successful operation against ISIS.
In turn, the Iraqi army, announced that the National Intelligence Service located the leader of "IS" and informed him of the United States, which carried out the raid that ended with his death.