US ends Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi's reign of terror: All about ISIS chief

Making the "big" announcement on Sunday evening, the United States 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. He said that the world's most dangerous and number 1 terrorist is has been killed. Detailing about the operation, 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. Trump said that the United States lost no soldier in the operation and claimed that many ISIS men and Baghdadi's aides were killed in the operation.

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In the early hours of Sunday, United States President Donald Trump took to Twitter to announce that he will break big news later in the day. While speculation remains high, some US media reports and international reports say that it may be the news of the killing of ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. Reports suggest that the US army held an operation along with Syrian Kurd forces to eliminate the ISIS chief. 

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Here's all you need to know about ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi

1. Al Baghdadi has reportedly led ISIS 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. The video was widely circulated, in which Baghdadi was seen in a black robe. He urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the caliphate and obey him as its leader.
    
2. In April this year, another video was released in which he was seen in the public first time after declaring the caliphate. In the propaganda video, Al Baghdadi said was seen sitting cross-legged alongside Kalashnikov. He then spoke for 18 minutes in the video and said that their battle is a long one. He had also praised the Easter bombing terror attack in Sri Lanka that killed 250 people. 
    
3. Baghdadi was reportedly born in the Iraqi city of Samarra in 1971. He joined Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and rose to high ranks after the faction broke away to form ISIS. He then declared himself the Caliph of the his Caliphate. 
    
4. Though ISIS surrendered its last stronghold in the Syrian city of Baghouz in March, Al Baghdadi's whereabouts remained unknown. Intelligent reports speculated Al-Baghdadi to be in this area, which is eastern Syria along the border with Iraq. Some reports also suggested that he was in Idlib in northern Syria.

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