Defense
- Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who led ISIS to kill and enslave thousands and to seize a territory of Iraq and Syria the size of Great Britain, was killed in an early-morning raid in Sunday,
- Informants within Syria found one of Baghdadi's top aides at a market in Idlib and followed him to the house where Baghdadi was staying.
- Army Rangers and Delta Force operators flew on eight helicopters from Iraq to the compound, where they were met with small arms fire upon landing.
- The mission was complete and Baghdadi dead by 7:15 PM Eastern Time Saturday.
- Visit Business Insider's home page for more stories.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, was killed in a US operation in Syria early Sunday morning local time.
Working with informants close to Baghdadi, US, Iraqi, Turkish, and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) intelligence were able to discover where Baghdadi, who held large parts of Iraq and Syria under his brutal control from 2014 to 2019, was hiding out.
The operation to capture or kill Baghdadi was named for an American aid worker, Kayla Mueller, who was captured by ISIS in Syria and later killed.
Under al-Baghdadi, ISISkilled and enslaved thousands and took over a swathe of land the size of Great Britain in Iraq and Syria.
Details of the operation continue to emerge. Baghdadi is said to have detonated a suicide vest as he hid in a tunnel in his compound, killing himself and three of his children near Idlib, Syria.
Read on to learn more about what we know of the raid that killed Baghdadi.