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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Frances Perraudin

Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed in US raid, says Donald Trump - as it happened

That’s it for this live blog for now.

Just to recap, Donald Trump has announced that the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a raid by US special forces on his Syrian safehouse, ending a years-long manhunt for one of the world’s most wanted terrorists.

Trump said the two-hour operation was conducted on Saturday night in the province of Idlib, one of the last areas of the country still outside Syrian regime control, and that US officials had confirmed Baghdadi, 48, was among those killed.

The president said the Isis leader died “running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way”.

You can see our full report on today’s events here:

Here’s a reminder of who Baghdadi was and why his death is so important:

And here’s an analysis of what Baghdadi’s death means in a changing middle east:

Thanks very much for reading.

Baghdadi operation named after Kayla Mueller

Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, US national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the operation to kill the Isis leader had been named after Kayla Mueller, a humanitarian worker who was imprisoned by the group, tortured and repeatedly sexually abused by Baghdadi himself. She died in the terrorist group’s confinement at the age of 26.

We finally brought justice to a man that beheaded the three Americans, two journalists and a humanitarian worker. And Kayla Mueller who was working as a humanitarian, great young American, idealistic, young girl. And one of the things that General Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, did was named the operation that took down al-Baghdadi after Kayla Mueller, after what she had suffered. And that was something that people should know. But justice was brought to those Americans who were so brutally killed, as were others, as the president pointed out.

He also stressed that Russia was “not an ally of the United States”, despite the country having been thanked by Donald Trump in his statement to the media.

Reports of his death had been frequent – and exaggerated, writes Martin Chulov. But not this time.

Even as US forces were flying to Iraq the remains of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in Syria in the early hours of Saturday, a debate about his legacy was stirring.

For more than five years, Baghdadi, who was known by birth as Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, was the most wanted man on the planet – a figure who had turned an already potent post-invasion insurgency in Iraq into a formidable terrorist juggernaut that changed the course of history.

In the time he led the Isis terror group, Baghdadi succeeded in shredding the authority of Iraq and Syria and testing the borders of the entire Middle East – all the while eluding the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies and militaries.

Chulov writes that the Isis leader’s death comes as a new order takes shape in the Middle East. Read the whole piece here:

Iran’s information minister has tweeted that the death of Baghdadi is “not a big deal”.

Quoting Donald Trump’s tweet, Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said: “Not a big deal. You just killed your creature.”

Here’s an edit of the key parts of that Trump press conference:

Diane Foley, whose son James was among those whose deaths were filmed for gruesome murder videos that became a trademark of Isis, has issued a response to the news that Baghdadi is dead.

I am grateful to our president and brave troops for finding Isis leader Al-Bagdadi. I hope this will hinder the resurgence of terror groups and pray that captured Isis fighters will be brought to trial and held accountable.

And here’s some reaction from France’s minister for the armed forces, Florence Parly.

She says:

Baghdadi: Early retirement for a terrorist, but not for his organisation. We will continue the fight relentlessly against Daesh, with our partners, adapting ourselves to new regional circumstances.

I congratulate our American allies for this operation. My thoughts today are for all the victims of the madness of Baghdadi and the criminals who have followed him.

In statement to Reuters, Fahrettin Altun, a senior aide to president Tayyip Erdogan, said:

Turkey was proud to help the United States, our NATO ally, bring a notorious terrorist to justice ... We remember today Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s civilian victims and our military heroes, who lost their lives to protect the world from Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists.

Turkey, which has been a bulwark against terrorism, will continue to work closely with the United States and others to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It is time to join forces and defeat all terrorist groups operating in the region without further delay.

Here is a response from the UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab.

Updated

The Russian state-run RIA news agency is quoting the country’s ministry of defence saying it was not aware that they had provided any assistance to the US in the operation that targeted Baghdadi.

“We are unaware of any alleged assistance to the flying of US aviation into the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation,” major-general Igor Konashenkov is quoted as saying.

In his press conference an hour ago, Trump thanked Russia for their support.

Updated

Trump's press conference: what we learned

Trump has just given a press conference, speaking to reporters for nearly an hour. The US president confirmed reports that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a US raid. Here is what we learned:

  • Trump watched from the White House situation room as US special operations forces carried out a nighttime raid on a compound in north western Syria yesterday. He said the operation started at around 5pm US time and it was “like watching a movie”.
  • No US personnel were killed, but “a large number of Baghdadi’s fighters and companions were killed with him”. Trump said they would announce the exact number of deaths in due course.
  • Baghdadi died after running into a dead-end tunnel with three of his children, “whimpering and crying and screaming all the way”, said Trump. He detonated a suicide vest, bringing the tunnel down around him and killing himself and the three children.
  • A DNA test was done immediately, confirming his identity. “It was him. The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread,” said Trump.
  • Trump said they had had Baghdadi under surveillance for a couple of weeks. The US landed with eight helicopters at the compound and blew holes in the side of the building, avoiding the main door because they knew it was boobytrapped.
  • Trump said that two of Baghdadi’s wives were killed. They were wearing suicide vests, which were never detonated.
  • The US president said 11 children were removed from the compound alive and some people surrendered. He would not say how many survivors there were, but he said there were “more dead than alive”.
  • US forces were in the compound for two hours and seized “highly sensitive material and information” on Isis, said Trump.
  • The president thanked the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq and the Syrian Kurds for their cooperation. He said that one of the most dangerous aspects of the mission was the flight in and the flight out.
  • The US helicopters were shot at as they travelled to the compound, and returned fire, but Trump said it was thought to have been “local gunfire”. “They were terminated immediately,” he said. Trump said that Russia had known that US forces would be coming into northwest Syria but that they hadn’t been told why.
  • Trump said he knew of possible successors to Baghdadi as leader of Isis.
  • Asked about the decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria, Trump said:

We don’t want to keep soldiers between Syria and Turkey for the next 200 years. They’ve been fighting for hundreds of years. We’re out.

But we are leaving soldiers to secure the oil. And we might have to fight for the oil. It’s ok. Maybe somebody else wants the oil, in which case they have a hell of a fight.

[...] What I intend to do perhaps is make a deal with ExxonMobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly.

  • He said that European nations had been “a tremendous disappointment” because they hadn’t taken responsibility for their own Isis fighters.
  • Trump said he would call the families of James Foley and Kayla Mueller, both of whom died after being held in Isis captivity.

The British prime minister has responded to the news that Baghdadi has been killed. He described it as “an important moment in our fight against terror”, but warned that “the battle against the evil of Daesh is not yet over”.

The White House has released these images of the president watching the operation against Baghdadi:

Trump says Baghdadi led his three children to death, detonating his suicide vest, which brought the tunnel they were in down around them.

He says that he will call the families of James Foley and Kayla Mueller today.

“He was an animal and he was a gutless animal,” says Trump. “Thank you very much. It’s a great day for our country”.

And that’s it. I’ll post a summary shortly.

Trump says that before 9/11 he wrote a book in which he warned against the dangers of Osama bin Laden. “I didn’t get any credit. I never do,” he says.

I said you have to kill him, you have to take him out and nobody ever listened to me ... Let’s put it this way, if they had listened to me a lot of things would have been different.

Asked about the US withdrawal from Syria, Trump says: “I don’t want to guard Turkey and Syria for the rest of our lives”.

He adds: “I will secure the oil that happens to be in a certain part, but there’s tremendous money involved.” Trump says that Iraq discriminates against the US “despite all we’ve done” when it comes to oil leases.

Trump returns to paying tribute to the US dog that was injured in the operation. “The canine, a beautiful dog, a talented dog, was injured and brought back,” he says.

He says he and his team were gathered in the situation room at 5pm yesterday. The lift-off started moments later. He says that there were shots fired at the US helicopters as they were travelling towards the site and that the helicopters shot back.

They conducted an on-site DNA test and brought body parts back with them. He says that positive identification of Baghdadi was made about 15 minutes later.

Updated

Trump said that the European nations had been a tremendous disappointment for not taking back captured Isis fighters. “My people called a lot and said take your Isis fighters ...,” he says. He singles out France, Germany and the UK.

Trump says the US tax payer isn’t going to pay to look after other countries’ Isis fighters.

The decision to pull US troops out of Syria was not linked to this operation, says Trump.

The president sent his tweet last night (saying “Something very big has just happened!”) once he knew the mission had been successful and that the US personnel involved had landed safely, he says. Trump says he wanted to let journalists know that there would be a big announcement today, so they weren’t “out playing golf, or playing tennis, or otherwise indisposed”.

He says that Baghdadi’s followers should be told how he died. “He didn’t die a hero, he died a coward,” says Trump. “Crying, whimpering and screaming and bringing three kids with him.”

The operation started two weeks ago, says the president.

He says that many of Baghdadi’s team were killed and that the exact number would be confirmed in the coming days. Trump says the US lost no personnel in the operation, despite being greeted with “fire power like you wouldn’t believe”. He adds that a US dog was injured.

Trump speaking at the White House
Trump speaking at the White House Photograph: Trump speaking at the White House/White House

Trump says the US had been following Baghdadi for some weeks.

He says that it was dangerous for the US to fly over other people’s territory, but they had cooperation from other countries. “We flew very, very low and very fast.”

“Russia treated us great... Iraq was excellent. We really had great cooperation,” he says. Trump says Turkey knew they were “going in”.

“We met with gun fire coming in, but that was local gun fire,” he says.

Baghdadi was “a sick and depraved man,” says Trump, “and now he’s gone”. He was “vicious and violent and he died in a vicious and violent way”.

Trump thanks Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq and the Syrian Kurds for “certain support they were able to give us”. He thanks “the great intelligence professionals” and the armed forces.

He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place. God bless America.

Trump says that under his direction the US has “obliterated his caliphate” 100%. He describes Baghdadi and his supporters as losers.

They had no idea what they were getting into – in some cases they were very frightened puppies and in other cases they were hardcore killers.

Trump says that Baghdadi died “whimpering and crying and screaming” after running into a dead end tunnel.

He says 11 young children were moved out of the house and are uninjured, but that Baghdadi brought three of his young children with him as he tried to escape down the tunnel. He then ignited a suicide vest, also killing his three children.

Test results gave “certain and immediate identification”, says Trump. “It was him.”

Trump speaking at the White House
Trump speaking at the White House Photograph: Trump speaking at the White House/REUTERS

Updated

Baghdadi is dead, says Trump

President Donald Trump has just started speaking. He says last night the US brought the “world’s greatest terrorist leader to justice”. “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead,” he says.

President Trump is about to give a press conference at the White House. You can follow it live above or on YouTube here.

President Trump is about to speak in Washington
President Trump is about to speak in Washington Photograph: White House

Here is a useful explainer from the Guardian’s international correspondent, Michael Safi.

Over the years there have have been multiple reports of Baghdadi’s death.

In June 2016, news outlets reported that the Isis leader was dead after a digitally altered image, claiming to be a statement from the terrorist group, was released. In June 2017, a senior Russian politician was reported to have said that the likelihood that the Isis leader had been killed was close to 100%. A month later a top Kurdish counter-terrorism official said he was 99% sure Baghdadi was alive.

In the al-Hol camp for Isis detainees and their families in northern Syria, there are mixed reactions to the reports of Baghdadi’s death.

One side, which despises the organisation, is celebrating. The so-called ‘irreconcilable’ section is solemn and silent. One of the female detainees there said: “We don’t respond to news from infidels”.

Two officials have told the Guardian’s Martin Chulov that the raid followed a month-long intelligence operation that had tracked Baghdadi to the region through a smuggler who moved the wives of two of his brothers from Iraq to Idlib.

An Iraqi intelligence official said the wives of Baghdadi’s two brothers, Jumah and Ahmad, along with other family members, were monitored as they moved to the region. The information was passed to the CIA earlier this month, the officials said.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have issued statements welcoming “a successful and historical” joint intelligence operation with the US. The Guardian has not independently verified their claims of involvement.

From the SDF’s general commander:

From the head of the SDF’s press office:

The Guardian has heard from first responders who were called by the neighbours after the attack. They say US troops gave the neighbours 10 children who were taken from the house that was raided. The house was being used by an Abu Mohammed al-Halabi.

A senior Turkish official has told AFP that Baghdadi only arrived at his location 48 hours before the raid.

To the best of my knowledge, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi arrived at this location 48 hours prior to the raid. We have been in close coordination with the relevant parties.

The Turkish military did have advance knowledge of last night’s raid.

I can neither confirm nor deny that any intelligence was shared to facilitate last night’s operation.

This is from Turkey’s ministry of national defence. They say that they exchanged information with the US ahead of the operation, which is thought to have targeted Baghdadi.

On 10 January this year, Baghdadi survived a coup attempt launched by foreign fighters in his eastern Syrian hideout.

The incident took place in a village near Hajin in the Euphrates River valley, where the jihadist group was clinging to its last sliver of land.

Regional intelligence officials told our middle east correspondent Martin Chulov that a planned move against Baghdadi led to a firefight between foreign fighters and the fugitive terrorist chief’s bodyguards, who then fled with him to the nearby deserts.

Here’s his full report:

Baghdadi – who has led Isis since 2010, when it was still an underground al-Qaida offshoot in Iraq – has been the subject of an international manhunt for years and has a $25m bounty on his head. He was long thought to be hiding somewhere along the Iraq-Syria border.

On 16 September, Isis’s media network issued a 30-minute audio message purporting to come from Baghdadi, in which he said operations were taking place daily and called on supporters to free women jailed in camps in Iraq and Syria over their alleged links to his group.

In April he appeared in a video for the first time in five years, weeks after the remnants of the terrorist group were ousted from their last organised stronghold in the eastern Syrian desert. Baghdadi blamed the demise of Isis on the “savagery” of Christians.

Updated

Opening summary

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State terror group, is believed to have died in a US raid in north-western Syria overnight, intelligence officials have claimed. His death is unconfirmed.

Guardian correspondents Martin Chulov and Michael Safi report that the raid followed a month-long intelligence operation that had tracked Baghdadi to the region through a smuggler who had moved the wives of two of his brothers from Iraq to Idlib.

Donald Trump is due to make what has been described as a “major statement” in Washington at 9am on Sunday morning (1300 GMT).

The president tweeted on Saturday night:

You can read our full report here:

Intelligence officials told the Guardian that Baghdadi may have detonated a suicide belt as troops approached a house near the Turkish border in which he was hiding. The blast is thought to have also killed two of his wives.

Explosions and gunfire were reported from the small town of Barisha at about 1.30am local time on Sunday. It is understood that the Isis leader had been tracked to the home of one of his bodyguards who attempted to defend him. The raid is thought to have left at least nine people dead.

Iraqi state television aired footage on Sunday that it said showed the raid.

Iraqi state television footage which purports to show a raid targeting Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

I’m Frances Perraudin and I’ll be live blogging as we find out more. You can contact me on Twitter on @fperraudin.

Updated

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