Pentagon Releases Alleged Footage of Al-Baghdadi Killing Raid (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The United States has released a number of declassified images and video from the raid that allegedly killed the Daesh chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
During a press briefing, US military officials released video showing the raid that the US says killed Baghdadi. Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, Jr., commander of US Central Command said “The operation was exquisitely planned and executed.”
The Central Command’s release on Wednesday followed doubts about the reality of the raid on Baghdadi’s compound in Syria’s Idlib province.
McKenzie told reporters that four men and two women had been killed in the raid adding that the two children killed alongside Baghdadi were probably "under 12."
The top general refused to confirm US President Donald Trump’s claim that the Daesh chief was "screaming, crying and whimpering" in his last moments, a claim already repudiated by anonymous US officials with knowledge of operational details.
McKenzie also asserted that a DNA analysis showed "beyond a shadow of a doubt" that the man who died there was Baghdadi.
According to US Central Command, the Takfiri leader’s remains were "buried at sea in accordance with the Law of Armed conflict within 24 hours of his death."
US officials were, meanwhile, estimating that a new Daesh leader would surface sooner or later after the group’s spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir was allegedly killed as well.
He further estimated that "somewhere between a couple of days and a couple of weeks, we will see a new leader of the announced."
Travers also suggested that Baghdadi’s death could pave the way for closer ties between Daesh and al-Qaeda.
