ISIS chief Baghdadi killed in US action, as per reports; All we know

Amid a cryptic tweet by US President Donald Trump on Saturday exclaiming that 'Something very big has just happened', US media and sources to Republic said that US forces killed ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdi during a raid. story is still developing, but international media has reported that Baghdi has died in US action. This is yet to officially confirmed by US ministration.

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Donald Trump to make anuncement

A White House spokesman, Hogan Gidley, said that US president would be making a "major statement" at 9:00 a.m. EDT on Sunday. Meanwhile, Associated Press reported that Islamic State al-Baghdi is believed to be de following US military raid. Calling al-Baghdi a 'showy leer of Islamic State group who presided over its global jih' and 'world's most wanted man', AP report said that he is believed to be killed after being targeted by a US action in Syria.

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Al Baghdi believed  to be killed during US military action: International media reports 

As per AP report, a US official on condition of anymity said on late Saturday that al-Baghdi was targeted in Syria's rthwestern Idlib province. official said confirmation that IS chief was killed in an explosion is pending and  details were available at moment. If confirmed, operation's success could prove a major boost for Trump, report said. His decision to remove US troops from rastern Syria received bipartisan criticism where politicians raised concern that  militant group could regain strength after it h lost vast stretches of territory it h once controlled.

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Syrian Kurds claim joint-op, 'neighbouring nations informed'

Syrian Kurdish forces said 'joint intel' with US h led to operation against al Baghdi. Meanwhile, as per reports, Turkey was t aware of any operation on Baghdi and were informed after IS chief died. Official statements regarding this are yet to be me. Iran was informed by sources in Syria that Islamic State leer Abu Bakr al-Baghdi was killed.

Newsweek first reported that world's most wanted man was believed to have been killed. President Trump approved mission nearly a week before it took place, it said. Citing a senior Pentagon official familiar with operation and Army official briefed on matter, it said that Baghdi was target of top-secret operation in last bastion of Syria's Islamist-dominated opposition.

Newsweek says Baghdi detonated suicide vest

Pentagon official said re was a brief exchange of fire when US forces entered compound in Idlib's Barisha vill and that Baghdi n killed himself by detonating a suicide vest. official said that compound in which Baghdi was located was n taken out with an airstrike. Quoting Pentagon sources, Newsweek said two wives of Baghdi were killed after detonating ir own explosive vests.

Joint Special Operations Command's Delta Team carried out operation after receiving actionable intelligence, it said, citing sources familiar with operation. location h been under surveillance for some time.

Syria war monitor says Baghdi, nine killed

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syria war monitor, reported an attack carried out by a squron of eight helicopters accompanied by a warplane belonging to international coalition on positions of Hurras al-Deen, an al-Qaida-linked group, in Barisha area rth of Idlib city, after midnight on Saturday. IS operatives are believed to be hiding in area, it said. It said helicopters targeted IS positions with heavy strikes for about 120 minutes, during which jihists fired at aircraft with heavy weapons.

Britain-based Observatory, which operates through a network of activists on ground, documented death of nine people as a result of coalition helicopter attack. It is t yet kwn wher al-Baghdi is one of m, it said, ding that death toll is likely to rise due to large number of wounded.

Al-Baghdi's presence in vill, which is a few kilometres away from Turkish border, would come as a surprise, even if some IS leers are believed to have fled to Idlib after losing ir last territories in Syria to U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in March. surrounding areas are largely controlled by a rival of Islamic State group — al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS — although or jihi groups sympatic to IS operate re. Unverified video circulated online by Syrian groups appeared to support Observatory claim that operation occurred in Barisha.

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Al-Baghdi's role in region as Islamic rical

Al-Baghdi has led IS for last five years, presiding over its ascendancy as it cultivated a reputation for beheings and attracted hundreds of thousands of followers to a sprawling and self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria. He remained among few IS commanders still at large despite multiple claims in recent years about his death and even as his so-called caliphate dramatically shrank, with many supporters who joined cause eir imprisoned or jailed. His exhortations were instrumental in inspiring terrorist attacks in heart of Europe and in United States. Shifting away from airline hijackings and or mass-casualty attacks that came to define al-Qaida, al-Baghdi and or IS leers supported smaller-scale acts of violence that would be harder for law enforcement to prepare for and prevent.

y encourd jihists who could t travel to caliphate to kill where y were, with whatever weapon y h at ir disposal. In U.S., multiple extremists have pledged ir allegiance to al-Baghdi on social media, including a woman who along with her husband committed a 2015 massacre at a holiday party in San Bernardi, California. With a $25 million U.S. bounty on his he, al-Baghdi has been far less visible in recent years, releasing only sporic audio recordings, including one just last month in which he called on members of extremist group to do all y could to free IS detainees and women held in jails and camps.

purported audio was his first public statement since last April, when he appeared in a video for first time in five years.
In 2014, he was a black-robed figure delivering a sermon from pulpit of Mosul's Great Mosque of al-Nuri, his only kwn public appearance. He urged Muslims around world to swear allegiance to caliphate and obey him as its leer.
"It is a burden to accept this responsibility to be in charge of you," he said in video. "I am t better than you or more virtuous than you. If you see me on right path, help me. If you see me on wrong path, vise me and halt me. And obey me as far as I obey God."

Though at minimum a symbolic victory for Western counterterrorism efforts, his death would have an unkwn practical impact on possible future attacks. He h been largely regarded as a symbolic figurehe of global terror network and was described as "irrelevant for a long time" by a coalition spokesman in 2017.

(Inputs from ncies)