ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead after US raid in Syria News
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ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi dead after US raid in Syria

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terrorist organization known as ISIS, died on Saturday during a US raid in northwest Syria, according to a Sunday morning statement by US President Donald Trump.

According to Trump’s statement, the ISIS leader died after he fled into a dead-end tunnel and detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and three children. US troops also seized information during the raid, the substance of which was not divulged.

A statement by Democratic US House majority leader Steny Hoyer following Trump’s announcement acknowledged the significance of al-Baghdadi’s death, but recognized his death does not mean the threat from ISIS is eliminated. Hoyer also called into question the recent decision by Trump to remove American forces from Syria.

Al-Baghdadi became the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, which later became ISIS, in 2010. Since that time, ISIS has committed numerous hostile acts throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world. In February Trump announced “the ISIS caliphate ha[d] been decimated.”

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