Trump says ISIS leader al-Baghdadi died ‘whimpering and crying and screaming all the way’

By: Mark M.

U.S. President Trump confirmed in an address to the nation Sunday that a “whimpering and crying and screaming” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who as leader of the Islamic State unleashed a rein of jihadist terror around the globe, died during a US special forces raid in Syria.

“Last night the US brought the world’s No. 1 terrorist leader to justice,” Trump said from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead.”

“He was the founder and leader of ISIS. The most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world. The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years.

Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top national security priority of my administration,” Trump said.

Trump said the special forces executed a “daring” nighttime raid and “accomplished their mission in grand style.”

“He died after running into a dead end tunnel, whimpering, crying and screaming all the way,” the president said.

Al-Baghdadi, who had a $25 million bounty on his head, was targeted in a raid carried out in Idlib province in northwestern Syria not far from the Turkish border, the president said.

The ISIS madman and his wife detonated suicide vests as the commandos closed in early Sunday in an operation that included helicopters, warplanes and troops on the ground.

Other ISIS fighters also died in the raid.

Trump tweeted late Saturday that “Something very big just happened,” and White House spokesman Hogan Gidley just before midnight updated the president’s schedule to include a “major statement” at 9 a.m.

News that the terror group’s leader was dead began leaking out following Trump’s posting, and Iraqi state television broadcast footage of what it said was the aftermath of the raid showing rubble strewn across a large area from what appeared to be a demolished house.

Reports said Iraqi intelligence assisted its American counterparts to pinpoint al-Baghdad.

“Our sources from inside Syria have confirmed to the Iraqi intelligence team tasked with pursuing Baghdadi that he has been killed with his personal bodyguard in Idlib (province) after his hiding place was discovered when he tried to get his family out of Idlib towards the Turkish border,” an Iraqi official told Reuters.

The Kurdish forces in Syria, who fought alongside US troops in the battle against ISIS, also said they cooperated in the operation.

“Successful& historical operation due to a joint intelligence work with the United States of America,” Kurdish commander Gen. Mazloum Abdi tweeted.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain, reported that helicopters and a warplane carried out an attack on positions north of Idlib on Hurras al-Deen, an al-Qaida-linked group, and that ISIS fighters were hiding nearby.

The assault lasted nearly two hours with the jihadist forces returning fire against the aircraft using heavy weapons.

It said nine people were killed in the operation, but it wasn’t known at the time if al-Baghdadi was among the dead.

Trump took heat from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers for pulling out US troops out of Syria after a phone call on Oct. 6 with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Three days later Erdogan’s military swept into northern Syria to attack Kurdish troops, who had fought alongside American forces against ISIS.

Congressional lawmakers accused Trump of betraying a key ally and raised fears that captured ISIS militants, who were being held in Kurdish-run prisons and camps, could use the chaos to escape.

Al-Baghdadi had led the jihadist group since 2010 and announced during a 2014 speech from the pulpit of Mosul’s Grand Mosque that he would head the caliphate that included large parts of Iraq and Syria.

ISIS fighters continued to take more territory amid mounting reports of mass executions, beheadings, torture and rapes.

They also spread their fanatical ideology to others who carried out attacks around the world in the name of ISIS.