‘Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead,’ Trump declares

US President Donald Trump gives a press conference declaring the death of the leader of the Islamic State jihadist group.

“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead,” he says.

Trump confirms reports that Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest, killing himself before US special forces could reach him during the raid in northwestern Syria. He says Baghdadi brought three of his children with him while trying to hide, all of whom were killed by the blast.


Trump says Baghdadi’s body was”mutilated,” but biometric tests confirmed it was him.

“Baghdadi and the losers who worked for him… had no idea what they were getting into,” Trump says. “He was a sick and depraved man. And how he’s gone.”

Trump thanks Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, as well as the Syrian Kurds, for assisting with the raid.

“He died like a dog, he died like a coward,” Trump concludes.