Washington Post slammed for calling slain ISIS chief 'austere scholar'

While news broke of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's termination, US news agency Washington Post grabbed the headlines for its controversial headline on the obituary written about the Baghdadi. The terror group's chief was terminated by US forces who carried out an operation in the north-west Syrian region of Idlib on Sunday night. Washington Post initally titled the obituary as 'Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.'

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Washington Post slammed for 'soft' obituary

This controversial title raised many questions and severe backlash for trivialising a major terrorist to a mere 'religious scholar', inspite of the many terror attacks all over the world. The news agency then changed the title to 'Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of Islamic State, dies at 48'. But netizens were quick to notice Washington Post's mild stance and were merciless with  #WaPoDeathNotices trending.

Here are some of the best reactions:

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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed

On Sunday, US President Donald Trump confirmed that ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed. Addressing a press conference, Trump said that US forces carried out an operation in the north-west Syrian region of Idlib to kill ISIS chief Baghdadi. Baghdadi had been under US intelligence surveillance for 'a couple of weeks' and died at the end of the tunnel as US forces attack dogs chased him. According to the US president, Baghdadi immolated himself with 3 children after which his cave was bombed. The United States lost no soldier in the operation apart from a canine fatality.

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About Al Baghdadi

Al Baghdadi has led ISIS reportedly for five years. It was under his reign that ISIS spread rapidly and captured major parts of Syria after a civil war broke in the country in the aftermath of the Arab Spring in 2010. In 2014, Al-Baghdadi announced to recapture the caliphate from the Al -Nuri mosque in Mosul.  He urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the caliphate and obey him as its leader begining the reign of ISIS which ended finally in 2019.