Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir – the Islamic State spokesman since 2016 – was killed in a joint raid between Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and US forces in northern Syria.
General commander of SDF, Mazloum Abdi, announced the operation on his Twitter account at around 5pm this evening.
Mr Abdi praised the success of the operation earlier today, congratulating five months of joint intel cooperation on the ground and in the monitoring of ISIS that brought Al-Baghdadi down. An hour after announcing the death of the leader, the commander added “there will soon be other effective operations”.
Donald Trump confirmed the former leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed during an overnight raid in Syria, in what the US president called a major milestone against the terrorist group.
Baghdadi killed himself during the raid detonating an suicide vest after ‘crying and whimpering’, he said.
Mr Trump said: ”He reached the end of the tunnel as our dogs chased him down. He ignited his vest, killing himself and his three children.
“His body was mutilated by the blasts. The tunnel had caved on him.”
More to follow.