Baghdadi, 2 wives, and guards killed in northern Syria raid

Ali Abdel A’al

Abu Saeed al-Iraqi, the personal guard of ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed on October 26 in an American raid in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib, Iraqi security sources said.

Iraqi counterterrorism forces have, meanwhile, established post around a number of important state buildings in Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Ghazwan al-Rawi, Baghdadis special security chief, was also killed in the same operation, the Iraqi security sources said.

The Iraqi intelligence confirmed the death of Baghdadi and his personal guard in the American operation, Iraqi media quoted the same sources as saying.

They said Baghdadi was trying to get his family out of Idlib and was heading toward the Turkish border.

Some US officials were quoted as confirming the operation that targeted Baghdadi in Idlib.

White House Spokesman Hogan Gidley said US President Donald Trump would deliver an address on the killing of Baghdadi.

Trump celebrated the incident on Twitter. “Something very bid has just happened,” Trump wrote.

Some Iranian officials told Reuters, meanwhile, that Iran was notified about Baghdadi’s death by the Syrian government. They added that Syrian officials had collected information about the ISIS caliph’s death from the field.

Baghdadi’s wife

The Pentagon said, on the other hand, that two of Baghdadi’s wives who were in his company were killed by the explosive belt he wore.

Newsweek also quoted a Pentagon official as saying that a brief shootout happened when US troops started attacking Baghdadi’s convoy.