The body of Islamic State group chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was buried at sea by the US military after he killed himself during the weekend raid on his Syrian hideout, a Pentagon source told AFP on Monday.
No details were given on where or when the body was disposed of, but it paralleled the 2011 sea burial of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after he was killed in a US special forces raid in Pakistan.
“The disposal of his remains has been done, is complete and was handled appropriately,” said General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Milley said the burial took place based on standard US military procedures and “in accordance with the law of armed conflict.”
The founder and chief of one of the world’s most brutal and feared jihadist groups, designated a terrorist around the world, took his own life with a suicide vest.
He had been chased down a dead-end subterranean tunnel under a hideaway in northwest Syria by US special forces in the weekend raid.
The US-led anti-Islamic State campaign had tracked him for years, but he remained elusive, until the US gained intelligence that pointed them to the site in the Idlib region of Syria, which is dominated by Al-Qaeda-allied groups normally hostile to the Islamic State.
His body was removed from the site for identification, and disposed of after biometrics and DNA tests confirmed it was Baghdadi, according to media reports.
‘BEAUTIFUL DOG’
The military dog slightly wounded in the US raid which resulted in the death of jihadist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is recovering and back on duty, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.
General Mark Milley said the dog had performed a “tremendous service” during the special forces weekend assault in Syria that led to the death of the leader of the Islamic State group.
Announcing Baghdadi’s death, President Donald Trump said Sunday that the “beautiful” and “talented” dog had pursued the IS leader into a dark tunnel where he blew himself up with a suicide vest, killing himself and three children and wounding the dog.
Trump tweeted a picture of the dog on Monday, saying it did a “GREAT JOB.”
He said the name of the dog has not been declassified yet.
Milley also declined to provide the dog’s name or any further details about the canine.
“We’re not releasing the name of the dog right now,” the general said.
He said the dog had been “slightly wounded and is fully recovering.”
“The dog is still in theater, returned to duty, with its handler,” he said. (AFP)
