Trump: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead

At lunch on Thursday with GOP senators, President Trump said he was convinced that good things were coming soon on Syria but didn’t go further than that, per GOP source familiar, who says it now seems to be a reference to the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

There were additional discussions on Friday and Saturday at the White House with Trump and some of his confidantes about Syria, including Hill confidants. There was an indication an announcement was coming, per another GOP source, but it’s unclear how much detail they got.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a US military raid calling his death “significant.”

Some context: President Trump told reporters today that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not informed ahead of the raid that killed the ISIS leader. CNN’s Ted Barrett reports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was not briefed ahead of time either, according to a source with familiar with the situation.

ISIS operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and elsewhere. That in addition to, according to a report issued by the Pentagon’s Inspector General in August, between 14,000 and 18,000 fighters between Syria and Iraq.

A senior US national security official said there likely be ” a short term spike in attempts at high profile attacks as the group tries to make a statement” following the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Iraq’s National Intelligence Service successfully pinpointed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s location before the US military raid that killed him, Iraq’s defense ministry said in a statement. 

A special task force within the country’s intelligence service worked for more than a year, finally tracking the ISIS leader inside Syria. The statement also says the US raid was carried out in coordination with Iraqi intelligence services. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised President Trump following the announcement that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed Saturday by US special forces.

Earlier today: Trump addressed the country this morning from the White House to declare the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The President said a US special operations forces mission went after the ISIS leader and there were no US deaths during the operation.

Several ISIS fighters and companions of al-Baghdadi were killed, including two women wearing suicide vests and three children. Trump would not provide a specific number of casualties, only describing those targeted on scene as “more dead than alive.” Eleven children were moved out of the house and are uninjured, the President said.

The death of al-Baghdadi marks the culmination of a years-long hunt to find one of the most wanted terrorists in the world and the man who declared a so-called Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014.

CNN’s Maegan Vazquez, Zachary Cohen and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

CIA Director Gina Haspel did play a role on Saturday’s mission against ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Haspel is not listed in the description of the photo tweeted out by the White House, but Haspel would have been monitoring from CIA headquarters and in touch with the Situation Room, similar to how former CIA Director Leon Panetta was positioned during the Osama bin Laden mission in 2011. 

Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Joseph Maguire was not in the Situation Room either. 

A DNI spokesperson says Maguire was “fully aware and engaged in the planning. For the operation itself, he was out of town due to a pre-arranged engagement but watched with the CENTCOM commander.” 

The President thanked both in response to a question after his statement.

The Russian military on Sunday questioned the official US account of the military raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, saying it was not aware of any US military operations in the region.

In a statement, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said the Russian military “does not have reliable information” on a US Special Operations raid in Syria’s Idlib province, adding: “The increasing number of direct participants and countries that allegedly took part in this ‘operation,’ each one giving completely contradictory details, raises legitimate questions and doubts about its existence and especially the level of its success.”

In a statement that followed the raid, President Trump thanked Russia for its assistance, as well as Turkey, Syria, Iraq and the Syrian Kurds. 

Russia maintains a major base in Syria at Latakia. Konashenkov said, however, that the Russian military had observed no strikes by US aircraft in the region.

“Firstly, on Saturday and in recent days no air strikes were made on the Idlib de-escalation zone by US aircraft or the so-called ‘international coalition’ were recorded,” Konashenkov said. “Secondly, we are not aware of any alleged assistance to the passage of American aviation into the airspace of the Idlib de-escalation zone during this operation.”

Konashenkov argued in his statement that Syrian government backed by Russian air power had defeated ISIS, saying that al-Baghdadi’s death “has absolutely no operational significance on the situation in Syria or on the actions of the remaining terrorists in Idlib.”

Russia, which backs the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has long argued that the US military has no legal basis to operate in Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated President Trump on the mission against ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but warned there is still more work ahead against terrorist organizations. 

“This reflects our shared determination, of the United States and of all the free countries, to fight terrorist organizations and terrorist states. This achievement is an important milestone, but the campaign is still in front of us,” Netanyahu added.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told ABC News’ “This Week” it was a “mistake” that the Trump Administration didn’t notify the Congressional “Gang of Eight” before the raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, saying it’s important to do so when there’s a high-level of danger in military actions.

The “Gang of Eight” consists of the top Republican and Democratic members of the House and Senate intelligence committee as well as congressional leaders from both parties. 

Schiff went on to add, “Had this escalated, had something gone wrong, had we gotten into a firefight with the Russians, it’s to the administration’s advantage to be able to say, ‘We informed Congress we were going in, they were aware of the risks. We at least gave them the chance to provide feedback.’ That wasn’t done here. I think that’s a mistake.”

Earlier today: President Trump told reporters today that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not informed ahead of the raid that killed the ISIS leader. CNN’s Ted Barrett reports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was not briefed ahead of time either, according to a source with familiar with the situation.

French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly congratulated the US over the operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, though she warned it was “early retirement for a terrorist, but not for his organisation”. 

“We will continue the fight against [ISIS] without rest, with our partners and adapting to new regional circumstances” Parly wrote on Twitter. 

Some context: ISIS operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and elsewhere. That in addition to, according to a report issued by the Pentagon’s Inspector General in August, between 14,000 and 18,000 fighters between Syria and Iraq.

A Turkish offensive in North Syria delayed the operation to kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi “by more than a month,” the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Sunday. 

The operation took place with “effective” participation of SDF intelligence, SDF spokesperson Kino Gabriel told reporters in Hassakah. 

“In the past few days we confirmed where he was… and the information was shared with the US, especially with CIA,” he added. 

The raid was the was the result of five months of joint work and coordination with American intelligence, but was delayed due to the “Turkish aggression,” he added.

President Trump told reporters today that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was not informed ahead of the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Saturday.

Pelosi’s office confirmed to CNN’s Manu Raju there was no notice given ahead of the raid to it. 

CNN’s Ted Barrett reports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was not briefed ahead of time, according to a source with familiar with the situation.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper described the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a “devastating blow” to a terrorist organization that has launched horrific attacks across the world. 

“This is not just their leader, it’s their founder. He was an inspirational leader in many ways,” Esper told Jake Tapper Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” 

Esper added that “we’re going to watch carefully next steps. And as a new leader and leaders pop up we’ll go after them as well.” 

The secretary told Tapper that President Donald Trump approved the US raid “late last week” after being presented with different options. The objective, Esper said, was capturing him or if necessary, killing him.

The secretary explained that al-Baghdadi refused to surrender to US forces before detonating a suicide vest and killing himself during a US military raid in northwest Syria on Saturday.  

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said President Trump approved the raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi this past week with the objective of capturing him or if necessary, killing him. 

Esper said soldiers tried to get al-Baghdadi to surrender but he killed himself instead, as the President said. 

“We tried to call him out and asked him to surrender himself. He refused. He went down to a subterranean area and in the process of trying to get him out, he detonated a suicide vest, we believe, and killed himself.”

According to Esper, US officials presented the President with options this past week.

Esper also said there were two minor US injuries to soldiers in the operation. Trump had only indicated a US K-9 was injured. 

“We had two minor casualties, two minor injuries, to our soldiers,” Esper said. “They’ve already returned to duty.”

Dan Scavino, the director of social media for the White House, tweeted a photo of President Trump in the Situation Room monitoring developments as US Special Operations forces closed in on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s compound in Syria.

President Trump said there were more people left dead than alive after the al-Baghdadi operation. 

He told reporters this morning three children were killed, and there were two wives who died. Those two women had suicide vests on which were not detonated, the President said.

Regarding the confirmation, Trump said al-Baghdadi was one of the last out of the compound. He said 15 minutes after the death there was an on-site test confirming it was al-Baghdadi.

President Trump said he didn’t notify all members of Congress about a raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Saturday. 

“We notified some,” the President said, “others are being notified now as I speak.”

 Trump said he didn’t want the forces, “greeted with fire power like you wouldn’t believe.”

“The only people that knew were the few people that I dealt with.” Trump said. “A leak could have caused the death of all of them.”

President Trump told reporters Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was under surveillance for a couple of weeks and that 2-3 planned missions were scrapped before the successful one was launched. 

Trump said the US flew over certain Russian airspace during the mission. 

The President said he watched the operation from the Situation Room but would not give more details of what type of feed it was. 

Trump said it was a “very dangerous mission,” regarding flying in and flying out. 

During the mission he said U.S. service members were met with local gunfire, which was eliminated.

In his announcement, Trump thanked Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Syrian Kurds for helping in the mission. He said the Syrian Kurds gave the US helpful information.

President Trump called the raid on ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “impeccable” during a press conference at the White House this morning while sharing details of the mission.

Trump said the ISIS leader died after igniting a vest he was wearing. The blast killed him and three children.

President Trump confirmed confirmed the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi this morning during a press conference at the White House.

President Trump’s announcement this morning comes after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s apparent death emerged.

Trump tweeted late Saturday night that “Something very big has just happened!”

Watch Trump live here.

No US service members were killed in the operation aimed at ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a US official told CNN.

From earlier: The ISIS leader is believed to have been killed in a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday, according to a senior US defense official and a source with knowledge. The final confirmation is pending while DNA and biometric testing is conducted, both sources tell CNN.

President Trump approved the mission aimed at ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, senior administration official tells CNN.

The ISIS leader is believed to have been killed in a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday, according to a senior US defense official and a source with knowledge. The final confirmation is pending while DNA and biometric testing is conducted, both sources tell CNN.

More on ISIS: It operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and elsewhere. That in addition to, according to a report issued by the Pentagon’s Inspector General in August, between 14,000 and 18,000 fighters between Syria and Iraq.

President Trump is scheduled to make a major announcement this morning at 9 a.m. ET, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley announced.

The announcement comes after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s apparent death emerged.

Trump tweeted late Saturday night that “Something very big has just happened!”

For some time, it was believed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding somewhere along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

The news that he was killed in Idlib province, in the northwest of the country, had many analysts scratching their heads. Idlib is under the control of Hayat Tahrir a Sham, a rebel group with ties to Al Qaeda. While the militant jihadist groups have plenty in common ideologically, for years years, ISIS and al Qaeda (and its affiliates) have been locked in bitter fighting in Syria. It would seem an unlikely hiding place for Baghdadi, particularly in a village just 3 miles from the Turkish border. 

Moreover, in order to move from the Euphrates Valley to Idlib, Baghdadi would potentially have had to pass through areas under the control of Kurdish and Turkish or regime forces. 

The death of Baghdadi would be an important symbolic victory against ISIS. At this stage, the group should really change its name. It no longer resembles a state, but rather a grouping of local insurgent cells. That is not to minimize the danger it can still present, capitalising on security vacuums that exist in Iraq and Syria and on its numerous affiliates in Africa and Asia. 

For President Trump this is a huge boon, particularly as it comes on the heels of US troops pulling out of Syria. Trump has faced huge criticism domestically and internationally for the withdrawal, in part because it was seen as raising the possibility of an ISIS resurgence. Baghdadi’s death would give him an opportunity to deflect such criticism and take credit for the decimation of ISIS, though that process actually began well before his time. 

The head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may be dead. ISIS, however, is far from finished. It operates in West Africa, Libya, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and the Philippines, and has followers in Europe and elsewhere. That in addition to, according to a report issued by the Pentagon’s Inspector General in August, between 14,000 and 18,000 fighters between Syria and Iraq.

Baghdadi was a secretive leader, making only one public appearance, in July 2014, when he delivered a sermon in Mosul’s Grand Mosque. During the years when ISIS’ fortune turned, when the group lost control of the cities of Tikrit, Falluja, Ramadi and Mosul in Iraq, and eventually its de facto capital in Syria in autumn 2017, he remained silent. It was only after the fall of ISIS’ last stronghold in eastern Syria did he finally release an audio statement.

Among the dozens of ISIS fighters and their wives and children we interviewed this spring during the battle of Baghouz, the group’s last stronghold, few mentioned the name of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The diehards, the ones who still remained loyal to the ideology of ISIS, stressed their allegiance to ad-Dawla al-Islamiya – the Islamic State, not to its leader.

Baghdadi never had a cult of personality. He did stress that he was a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed to burnish his Islamic credentials, but he never rose to the level of al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden, who was recognizable the world over. Bin Laden first came to fame during the 1980s, when he led the so-called Arab Mujahedeen in the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In the 1990s he gave interviews to the western media, including CNN, and even after the 9/11 attacks on the United States he issued statements and put out videos. 

As khalifa, or caliph, of the Islamic State, he never granted an interview to anyone.

ISIS, the organization, excelled at spreading its message through social media, but even there Baghdadi’s profile was low. For example, in issue 15 of Dabiq (July 2016), one of ISIS’ online publications, he is only mentioned once. 

Baghdadi’s possible elimination is a blow to ISIS, yet not a fatal one.

The northern reaches of Syria’s Idlib province is not a natural location for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to hide. The area is heavily dominated by al Qaeda, the terror group from which ISIS split, and against which it fought during the early days of its formation. 

But personal relations often count for more in the alphabet soup of jihadi politics, and a few local friends could well have provided him a hideout. 

A big question now will be whether he was trying to get himself or his family out of Syria. Baghdadi is believed to have been targeted a few miles inside the border with Turkey, on a notorious people-smuggling route.

Earlier this year, CNN’s Arwa Damon traveled to what was left of the mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi first announced the creation of ISIS’ “caliphate” and declared himself its leader in 2014. While Damon was there, she spoke with an elderly imam who was in the audience for Baghdadi’s now infamous address. Here’s what he had to say about that moment:

The gate of the al-Nuri Mosque still stands despite heavy attacks during the battle for Mosul.

Despite being hunted by the world’s best intelligence agencies and US authorities offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture, ISIS’ leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has proved to be incredibly elusive.

Over the last five years, there’s been little more than brief sightings, spotty intelligence and conflicting information about the leader’s whereabouts. He has been incorrectly reported dead or injured multiple times.

To date, the historic Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul’s Old City, where Baghdadi announced the creation of ISIS’ so-called caliphate in 2014, is one of his only locations that have been fully confirmed.

It is believed that Baghdadi has gone to great lengths to bolster his security, moving around often and only meeting with his closest circle of associates. A mid-level Syrian ISIS prisoner on death row in Iraq told CNN earlier this year that there were attempts by foreign fighters to overthrow the leader more than a year ago, but Baghdadi had them killed. The dissent within ISIS leadership ranks further shrunk his entourage.

An Iraqi intelligence source told CNN that the sprawling Iraqi town of Al Shirqat was one of the areas Baghdadi moved through in 2015, holding meetings with senior commanders in safe houses. Abu Omar al-Shishani, who the Pentagon described as Islamic State’s “minister of war,” was killed in a targeted airstrike in the town in 2016, Iraqi intelligence and residents confirm. The target, they say, was a home where Shishani and Baghdadi used to meet.

A senior Iraqi intelligence officer told CNN that, on at least three occasions – two in Iraq and one in Syria – they called in strikes that came close to taking out Baghdadi.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi once reigned over a realm the size of Britain.

Now, five years after he announced the caliphate’s creation from the pulpit of the al-Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul, that realm has all but disappeared. In March, Kurdish forces captured the group’s last pocked of control in eastern Syria.

At the group’s height, 7.7 million people were estimated to live under ISIS rule, according to Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), the official name for the coalition fighting ISIS. Many of those people paid taxes, fees and fines to ISIS, which made up a large portion of the group’s income.

In the years since, the group’s annual revenue more than halved: from up to $1.9 billion in 2014 to a maximum of $870 million in 2016, according to a recent report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) at King’s College London.

Despite the loss of territory, and funds, the Pentagon’s Inspector General estimated in August that ISIS still had between 14,000 and 18,000 fighters across Iraq and Syria.

Altogether, at least 41,490 international citizens traveled to Syria and Iraq to join ISIS, according to ICSR. And foreign fighters continued to arrive, undeterred – the coalition recently estimated that about 50 were arriving each month.

Lina Khatib, the head of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, a UK-based think tank for international affairs, told CNN in March that ISIS will revert to its insurgent roots as it moves underground, using the territorial loss as a call to arms among its network of supporters.

“The group itself has not been eradicated,” Khatib told CNN. “The ideology of ISIS is still very much at large.”

Turkey’s Defense Ministry has said it exchanged information with the US prior to the operation in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province.

“Prior to the US Operation in Idlib Province of Syria last night, information exchange and coordination between the military authorities of both countries took place,” the Turkish Defense Ministry tweeted Sunday.

The tweet did not elaborate with any further details or directly reference Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The Iraqi Joint Operations has said it assisted the US with intelligence used to carry out the raid targeting ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

A nighttime video circulated by Syrian activists purports to show a US raid targeting ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northwest Syria. The shaky footage captures the sound of aircraft overhead and a distant explosion. CNN cannot independently verify its authenticity. 

Iraq’s state-run Al Iraqiya TV channel has also been showing footage of what it described as the first pictures of the headquarters where Baghdadi was hiding out, in the aftermath of the raid.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to have been killed in a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday, according to a senior US defense official and a source with knowledge. The final confirmation is pending while DNA and biometric testing is conducted, both sources tell CNN.

Here’s what we know about the raid so far:

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have hailed a “successful” joint operation with the US, but did not divulge any details about what took place. 

“Successful & historical operation due to joint intelligence work with the United States of America,” Mazloum Abdi, the commander in chief of the Kurdish forces in Syria, tweeted on Sunday.

SDF spokesperson Mustafa Bali said the operation was “yet another proof” of the group’s “anti-terror capability.”

The SDF had been a key US partner in the fight against ISIS until earlier this month, when US President Donald Trump pulled American troops from Syria which led to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan giving the green light to launch an offensive against them.

Shortly after Turkey launched its operation, the SDF suspended their counter-terrorist operations against the group to focus on the Turkish offensive.

Earlier this month, a CNN poll found that three-quarters of Americans are concerned about the situation in Syria and many see a reemergence of ISIS as likely following recent changes in US policy.

But the country is divided over how to proceed. Just over half (51%) think the US has a responsibility to remain involved in the ongoing conflict in Syria, while 43% do not. The poll finds a sharp partisan divide over whether America has a responsibility to remain involved in the conflict there: 72% of Democrats say yes, while 65% of Republicans say no.

Overall, three-quarters of the country (75%) is concerned about the situation in Syria, including 43% who are very concerned. Concern, too, is highly divided along partisan lines – 65% of Democrats say they’re very concerned. Less than half of independents (40%) and about a quarter (24%) of Republicans feel the same

US President Donald Trump announced a withdrawal of all troops from Syria this month, but he reversed course later, saying a “small number” will remain. The poll was conducted after the decision to remove them, but before he said some could stay.

Many say that the change in US policy in Syria will likely result in a reemergence of ISIS – 69% say it’s likely, 23% not so likely. Democrats (85%) and those who disapprove of Trump’s performance as President (80%) are most likely to be say there will be a resurgence of ISIS, but that is also the view among a majority of Republicans (56%) and those who approve of Trump’s job performance (54%).

Read the full poll results

A resident in Syria’s northern Idlib Governorate describes hearing a big operation after midnight local time-possibly the US air raid targeting ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The witness lives in the town of Sarmada, in northern Idlib Governornate, about 5 km away from Barisha.

Syrian activists previously released videos which they claim were of the operation that may have killed al-Baghdadi. Those videos purportedly showed an air raid, including several helicopters and warplanes, carried out in the village of Barisha, in the northern Idlib suburbs, close to the Turkish border.

CNN cannot independently confirm the videos’ authenticity. 

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to have detonated a suicide vest during a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday, according to a senior US defense official.

A preacher of hate. The instigator and inspirer of some of the most hideous acts of violence ever put to video. An elusive fugitive, hunted by drones, only once seen in public. The perverter of Islam with a nauseatingly infectious ideology that had a greater lure to a disenfranchised minority than anything comparable since the 1970s.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been all of these, and now – after he is believed to have been killed in a raid by US troops – he leaves behind a trail of ghastly crimes, internecine hatreds and the sad realization that he and his brand of bloodthirsty, loathing ISIS are an ongoing symptom of regional upheaval and failure, and of what the Internet can do to the isolated and deranged.

In its geographical scope, ISIS was the candle that burned twice as bright and burned half as long.

It was in late 2013 that Baghdadi’s followers first swept into Raqqa. That began their ambitions in Syria, and led in June 2014 to the establishing of what they called an Islamic “caliphate,” never short of ambition, but rarely showing enough sobriety or statehood to last for very long.

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The news that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to have been killed comes on the back of concerns thousands of imprisoned ISIS fighters might escape thanks to Turkey’s recent invasion of northern Syria.

The fear is that as the Kurdish personnel guarding them gear up for a fight with Turkey, which launched a military offensive in northeastern Syria earlier this month, many prisoners could slip away.

Turkey’s assault has already had a “detrimental effect” on American counter-ISIS operations, which have “effectively stopped,” a senior US defense official told CNN on October 9.

The Turkish offensive, the official said, “has challenged our ability to build local security forces, conduct stabilization operations and the Syrian Democratic Forces’ (ability) to guard over 11,000 dangerous ISIS fighters.”

When asked earlier this month about the threat of ISIS prisoners escaping, US President Donald Trump claimed that some of the most dangerous ISIS prisoners had been moved, “putting them in other areas where it’s secure.”

He dismissed the overall threat, replying, “Well, they’re going to be escaping to Europe.”

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News of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s apparent death emerged after US President Donald Trump tweeted late Saturday night that “Something very big has just happened!”

He is scheduled to make a major announcement Sunday at 9 a.m. ET, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley announced.

An administration official tells CNN that the announcement is foreign policy related.

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is believed to have been killed in a raid conducted by the US military in northwest Syria on Saturday, according to a senior US defense official and a source with knowledge. The final confirmation is pending while DNA and biometric testing is conducted, both sources tell CNN.

The defense official said it appears that Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest during the raid.

The CIA assisted in locating the ISIS leader, the defense official said.

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to make a major announcement Sunday at 9 a.m. ET, White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley announced. An administration official tells CNN that the announcement is foreign policy related.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Baghdadi, the leader of the terror group, has been in hiding for the last five years. In April, a video was published by the ISIS media wing al-Furqan that showed a man purporting to be Baghdadi. It was the first time Baghdadi had been seen since July 2014, when he spoke at the Great Mosque in Mosul.

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