Four days after the raid that killed Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Northern Syria, the Pentagon has released the first footage from the operation. The 43-second video of the raid shows US troops moving towards a compound in which the Isisi leader was in hiding. After the raid, the compound was destroyed by the troops, the grainy video shows.
General Kenneth McKinzie, Head of US Central Command gave further details. He said that after the destruction of the compound it looked like "a parking lot with large potholes". He clarified in the news conference that two children were killed along with him, not three as reported earlier.
"He crawled into a hole with two small children and blew himself up while his people stayed on the ground. You can deduce what kind of person he is based on that activity" the General said. He informed that four women and a man, who were wearing suicide vests, blew themselves up in the compound as the US troops approached. The militants on the ground opened fire on the US helicopters. An unknown number of militants were killed in the skirmish that followed.
2004 detention in Iraq
He further briefed that the notorious founder of the terrorist organization was identified through his DNA samples which they possessed since Baghdadi's detention in an Iraqi prison in 2004. Within 24 hours of his death, he was buried at sea "in accordance with the laws of armed conflict".
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, former leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis), declared his caliphate in 2014. In his first public appearance, he could be seen giving a sermon from the precincts of Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri. The obscure preacher reappeared in a video released on April 30, this year, days after Isisi carried out the ghastly Easter terror attacks in Sri Lanka.
