According to several US media, the head of the Islamic State group (IS) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was targeted by a military operation in Syria and reportedly killed. At the same time, the spokeswoman for the US executive announced that Donald Trump was to make a "very important announcement" this Sunday.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been targeted by a military operation in Syria and is said to have been killed, several US media said Saturday at a few hours before Donald Trump's "very important" announcement Sunday morning.

According to CNN and ABC , citing senior officials, al-Baghdadi was killed in a US military operation in northeastern Syria. According to CNN , tests are underway to formally confirm the death of the leader of the jihadist group responsible for multiple bloody attacks around the world. According to an official quoted by ABC, he allegedly blew his jacket loaded with explosives to commit suicide. Questioned by AFP, the Pentagon declined to comment.

"Something huge has just happened!"

"The President of the United States will make a very important announcement tomorrow morning at 9 am from the White House," said Hogan Gidley, spokesman for the US executive, without further details. Shortly before this announcement, Donald Trump had posted a cryptic message on Twitter. "Something huge has just happened!", He wrote. If the US military operation has been successful, it would be the largest against a top jihadist leader since the death on May 2, 2011 of Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda killed by the special forces Americans in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Something very big has just happened!

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2019

This development comes at a time of intense military activity in northern Syria. The Syrian regime and its Russian ally accelerated the deployment of their troops to the Syrian-Turkish border, while the Americans announced the sending of military reinforcements to an oil zone further east under Kurdish control.

Only one public appearance known

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has not given any sign of life since an audio recording broadcast in November 2016, after the start of the Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul in which he exhorted his men to fight to the point of martyrdom. It was in Mosul that the IS leader made his only known public appearance, in July 2014, at al-Nouri mosque. Wearing a turban and black coat with a grizzled beard, he then called on all Muslims to pledge allegiance to him after having been appointed to the head of the caliphate proclaimed by his group over the vast territories conquered in Iraq and neighboring Syria.