The leader of the Islamic State is dead following a raid by U.S. special operations forces into a compound where he was hiding in northern Syria Saturday.
President Trump made the announcement Sunday morning that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi detonated an explosive vest he was wearing as he fled down a one-way corridor as U.S. forces approached.
“He died like a dog, he died like a coward,” the president said as he praised American forces as “the best in the world.”
Reports noted that al-Baghdadi’s compound was located in Syria’s Idrib Province.
Trump noted that the U.S. had been searching for the ISIS leader for years, calling the search “the top national security priority of my administration.”
He also thanked Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Kurds in the region.
“No personnel were lost in the operation, while a large number of Baghdadi’s fighters and companions were killed with him,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. recovered “highly sensitive” materials related to ISIS. “You are the very best anywhere in the world,” Trump later said of the U.S. forces.