The report reaching us now suggests that world most wanted man and the leader of the dreaded ISIS terrorists group, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has been killed in a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday.
The news which is yet to be officially confirmed by the United States, says a senior US defense official and a source with knowledge has reported to CNN about the latest development.
Many sources stated that a DNA and biometric testing is being conducted of the body believed to be that of Al-Baghdadi before final confirmation to the public.
According to the report by CNN, the senior US defense official whose name was not given, said it appears that Al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest during the raid.
The raid was carried out by special operations commandos.
The CIA assisted in locating the #ISIS leader, the defense official said.
Newsweek first reported that Baghdadi was believed to have been killed.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to make a major announcement Sunday at 9 a.m., White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley announced.
An administration official tells CNN that the announcement is foreign policy related.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Baghdadi, the leader of the terror group, has been in hiding for the last five years. In April, a video was published by the ISIS media wing al-Furqan that showed a man purporting to be Baghdadi. It was the first time Baghdadi has been seen since July 2014, when he spoke at the Great Mosque in Mosul.
In February 2018, several US officials said Baghdadi had been wounded in an airstrike in May 2017 and had to relinquish control of the terror group for up to five months because of his injuries.
Baghdadi became the leader of Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in 2010. In 2013, ISI declared its absorption of an al Qaeda-backed militant group in Syria and Baghdadi said that his group will now be known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS).
With a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, al-Baghdadi has been far less visible in recent years, releasing only sporadic audio recordings, including one just last month in which he called on members of the extremist group to do all they could to free IS detainees and women held in jails and camps.
White House officials were at the White House late Saturday evening in preparation.
President Donald Trump teased a major announcement, tweeting Saturday night that “Something very big has just happened!” A White House spokesman, Hogan Gidley, would say only that the president would be making a “major statement” at 9 a.m. ET Sunday.
But no official statement yet on the latest development, as it will be a major boost for the Trump’s administration after the huge criticism that followed with the pulling out of US troops in Syrian border, and the Turkey onslaught in that same area.