The Pentagon released on Wednesday (October 30) video of the raid that led to the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The video shows U.S. forces approaching the compound and destroying the compound with standoff munitions.
U.S. Central Command Commander Kenneth McKenzie Jr. explained the video to reporters. The release comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the death of al-Baghdadi, describing the operation in detail. Baghdadi died by detonating an explosives-laden vest when he fled U.S. forces into a dead-end tunnel during the attack, which took place in the Idlib region in northwest Syria, the Trump said in a televised address to the nation from the White House over the weekend.
Trump told reporters that al-Baghdadi had died "whimpering" and "crying" but McKenzie said he couldn't confirm that.
"Now, about Baghdadi's last moments - I can tell you this. He crawled into a hole with two small children and blew himself up while his people stayed on the ground. You can deduce what kind of person it is based on that activity. That would be my empirical observation of what he did. I'm not able to confirm anything else about his last seconds. I just can't confirm that one way or another," he said.
McKenzie also said that al-Baghdadi had killed two children when he detonated his suicide vest, not three as originally reported.
0 Comments