In 2011, Osama Bin Laden, then al-Qaeda leader and killed in a US assault in Pakistan, was also immersed to avoid making his grave a place of worship.

The US military submerged the body of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who blew himself up in a raid in Syria where a commando, accompanied by a war dog, hailed as a hero, tracked down the leader. Islamic State (IS) group into a tunnel.

A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed Monday the burial at sea that recalls that of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, killed during the assault of a unit. American elite against his hiding place in Pakistan. The sepulture at sea had been chosen to prevent a possible tomb from becoming a place of pilgrimage.

"In accordance with the laws of war"

The "treatment" of Baghdadi's body was done "appropriately, according to the procedure (military) and in accordance with the laws of war", had previously told the press in Washington the chief of staff of the US Army, General Mark Milley.

The IS leader, who has spread terror over an immense territory straddling Iraq and Syria, has been in demand for several years. But Washington has received information about his presence in a house in the region of Idleb, northwestern Syria, said the general.

According to the highest ranking American, the self-proclaimed "caliph" blew up the belt of explosives he was wearing when he was cornered in a tunnel with three of his children. His body was then "transported to a secure place to confirm his identity through DNA analysis," he added. Several actors in the Syrian conflict claimed to have contributed to the operation

Kurds and Iraqis claim to have participated in the hunt

Polat Can, senior adviser of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) composed mostly of Kurdish fighters and Washington allies in the fight against jihadists, said Monday on Twitter have located Baghdadi thanks to a Kurdish informant infiltrated among the relatives of the "caliph". He allegedly passed on a leader's underwear to identify his DNA, he explained. According to him, the FDS collaborated with the CIA since May.

The day before, the Iraqi military command had assured that it had provided Washington with the location of the IS leader.