The US military has conducted an operation against the fugitive leader of the Islamic State (IS) group according to reports in US media with
Claims of a raid against Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi have not been confirmed.
The White House said US President Donald Trump would make a “major statement” on Sunday at 13:00 GMT (09:00 local time) on Sunday but gave no further details.
Mr Trump earlier shared a tweet saying: “Something very big has just happened!”
Officials quoted anonymously by various media outlets said US forces targeted the militant leader in a raid in northwest Syria. A US official told Reuters news agency an operation took place but was unable to confirm speculation that Baghdadi was killed.
The IS leader has been wrongly reported to be dead on previous occasions. The White House has neither confirmed that an operation took place, nor its alleged outcome.
The raid was carried out by special operations forces after they received “actionable intelligence”, Newsweek said, citing unnamed sources. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, said helicopter gunfire had killed nine people near a village in the Syrian province of Idlib, where “groups linked to the Islamic State group” were present.
ISIS once had a caliphate spanning millions of people and in their interpretations of Islam saw beheadings, rape and murder as acceptable forms of Government.
Unity News Network (UNN) Staff Writer | To find out more details about our staff, please head to the About Us section on our website.
