Washington: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive chief of the Islamic State, has been killed by the US special forces in a raid in northwest Syria on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday.
President Trump confirmed the death of the ISIS leader during a press conference at the White House.
“Last night the United States brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-baghdadi is dead,” Trump said.
“He was the founder and leader of ISIS. The most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world. The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top national security priority of my administration,” he said.
Despite being hunted by the world’s best intelligence agencies and the US authorities offering a whopping USD 25 million reward for information leading to his capture, Baghdadi has proved to be incredibly elusive.
Baghdadi joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which merged with other Islamist groups to form the Islamic State of Iraq. He became the group’s leader in 2010 after his predecessor was killed by US forces.
He renamed the group to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, widely known as ISIL or ISIS in 2013 and announced his “caliphate” in 2014.
Also read: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the IS leader known for barbaric executions & love for football
JNU, University of Hyderabad and Jadavpur University students have anounced candle light marches in their respective cities to mourn the “martrydom” of Baghdadi-ji.
Its a geopolitical signal of end of some moves and beginning of other.
Watch out for Digvijay Singh coming out with a demand for a memorial statue for “Al Baghdadi-ji” in Delhi the name of “secularism.”
Great news. I am sure there are a lot of sad people in India today, including the inhabitants of 10 Janpath, their close advisers, their lobby in the media and academia (particularly JNU), the communists and the mullahs. Mark my word, as soon as the dust settles, we will begin to see articles in the lobby media by the paid lobbyists on how the US forces violated the “human rights” of the ISIS leader and those around him.