ISIS leader’s companion reveals details on Baghdadi’s last days

Al Arabiya exclusively interviewed on Sunday one of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s companions, currently detained by the Iraqi intelligence, about the ISIS leader’s last days.

Mohammed Ali Sajet is said to have reported intel on al-Baghdadi, which led to his killing by US forces.

Al-Baghdadi died by detonating a suicide vest, as confirmed by US President Donald Trump on Sunday, having run into a “dead-end tunnel” being pursued by US troops.

“US personnel were incredible, I got to watch much of it. No personnel were lost in the operation,” said Trump. “He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way. The compound had been cleared by this time.”

Sajet told Al Arabiya that the ISIS leader did not expect the raid to happen as he took “high security measures,” adding that his hiding tactics were “excellent.”

However, the ISIS leader’s companion and his wife’s brother-in-law also said that his security status was “deteriorating” in the last time they met, adding that Baghdadi wanted to change his location, which was on the Syrian-Iraqi border, but “didn’t know how.”

“He was in an eight-meter long underground tunnel with a width of five to six meters. It had a library, religious books, and the Quran … the hiding situation was good,” Sajet added.

$25 million

Asked about the self-proclaimed caliphate, Sajet said that ISIS top leaders, including himself, would burry dollars, gold, and silver in the desert, adding that $25 million were lost in al-Anbar desert and were later found by shepherds.