US ‘conducts operation against IS chief’ al-Baghdadi

The United States military has conducted an operation against the fugitive leader of the Islamic State (IS) group.

The BBC, however, says claims of a raid against Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have not been confirmed.

The White House said US President Donald Trump would make a “major statement” on Sunday, but gave no further details.

Mr. Trump earlier shared a cryptic tweet saying: “Something very big has just happened!”

Officials quoted anonymously by various media outlets said US forces targeted the militant leader in a raid in northwest Syria.

A US official told Reuters news agency an operation took place but was unable to confirm speculation that Baghdadi was killed.

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The IS leader has been wrongly reported to be dead on previous occasions.

The White House has neither confirmed that an operation took place nor its alleged outcome.

The raid was carried out by special operations forces after they received “actionable intelligence,” Newsweek said, citing unnamed sources.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a United Kingdom-based monitoring group, said helicopter gunfire had killed nine people near a village in the Syrian province of Idlib, where “groups linked to the Islamic State group” were present.

Mr. Trump is set to make his statement at 13:00 GMT (09:00 local time) on Sunday.

 

 

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