United States President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday (27/10/2019) that Islamic State (IS) movement leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed during a US military operation in northwestern Syria on Saturday last week.
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BENNY DWI KOESTANTO / B. JOSIE SUSILO HARDIANTO
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AFP/ AL-FURQAN MEDIA
In this undated filer image grab taken from a video released by Al-Furqan media on April 29, 2019, the chief of the Islamic State group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi purportedly appears for the first time in five years in a propaganda video in an undisclosed location. - Baghdadi was believed to be dead after a US military raid in Syria\'s Idlib region, US media reported early Sunday.
WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY – United States President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday (27/10/2019) that Islamic State (IS) movement leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed during a US military operation in northwestern Syria on Saturday last week. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead,” Trump said in an official announcement at the White House.
“US Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style. The US personnel were incredible,” said Trump, adding that no US soldiers were lost in the operation.
According to Trump, the IS leader died after igniting a suicide vest he was wearing while he was being chased down a dead-end tunnel. The explosion killed him and three children.
US Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style. The US personnel were incredible.
Support
The assault on Baghdadi apparently could not have been undertaken without Iraqi support. Iraq’s National Intelligence Service is said to have provided the information on Baghdadi’s location to US forces. A specialized task force was formed by the Iraqi intelligence agency to constantly monitor Baghdadi’s position. “The Iraqi National Intelligence Service acting on accurate information was able to locate the den in which Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding,” the intelligence agency said in a statement.
“On these grounds, the US forces coordinated with the Iraqi intelligence service and carried out a military raid,” the statement added.
In his statement, Trump recognized the roles of several countries in the operation. He said that Iraq was “very good”, without giving any details.
REUTERS/ALAA AL-MARJANI
Iraqi youth watch the news of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi death, in Najaf, Iraq October 27, 2019.
Islamic State
Several sources, including news agencies AFP and BBC, said that Baghdadi was seen at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq, in 2014. The IS group, led by Baghdadi, was declared a “caliphate” on 29 June 2014. They claimed that the regions they had seized in Syria and Iraq, including Deir Ezzor, Aleppo, Mosul and Raqqa, were parts of IS.
In July 2014, Baghdadi, who was born in Samarra, Iraq, in 1971, emerged in a video uploaded onto the IS’ website calling upon all Muslims everywhere to “adhere” to him. This call was believed to influence many, including in Indonesia, to recognize him as leader and take part in the battles in Iraq and Syria.
IS began as an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Iraq in 2003. The group, which was first named the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), joined in the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It benefited from the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and the Sunni people’s anger on the sectarian policies of the Shiite government.
In 2013, the ISI seized regions in Syria and changed its name to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, with lands covering Syria, Jordan and Palestine. However, pressures from a coalition of the US, Russia, Syria and Iran, supported by Kurds, overwhelmed IS.
Sleeper cells will avenge Baghdadi’s death
Baghdadi’s death means another defeat for the IS. Baghdadi has been the target of an international manhunt for years and was previously reported as either dead or injured.
The Kurdish forces in Syria said they would watch out for retaliation by IS groups after Baghdadi’s confirmed death. It is possible that militant IS sympathizers will carry out attacks. “Sleeper cells will avenge Baghdadi’s death,” said Mazloum Abdi, commander-in-chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish military group that holds thousands of IS militants behind bars. (AP/AFP/REUTERS)
