ISIS leader al-Baghdadi is dead, commits suicide alongside his three children

The fugitive leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) group has been killed in a United States military operation in northwest Syria, President Donald Trump has said.

Speaking from the White House, Mr. Trump said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi detonated his suicide vest during a raid by Special Forces late on Saturday.

The BBC reports that Baghdadi came to prominence in 2014 when he announced the creation of a “caliphate” in areas of Iraq and Syria.

The ISIS carried out a number of atrocities that resulted in thousands of deaths.

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The jihadist group imposed a brutal rule on almost eight million people in the areas under its control and was behind a number of attacks in cities around the world. The US declared the “caliphate” defeated earlier this year.

In an unusual Sunday morning statement, Mr. Trump said US Special Forces executed a “daring night-time raid” and accomplished their mission in grand style.

No US soldiers had been killed but a number of Baghdadi’s followers also died, Mr. Trump said.

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