Joshua Roberts/Reuters
President Donald Trump.
- President Trump gave a graphic description of the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi following a US raid in Syria.
- Trump said Baghdadi tried to escape down a dead-end tunnel before detonating a suicide vest.
- Trump said the ISIS leader died "crying and whimpering and screaming."
- Baghdadi was targeted by a US Special Forces raid in the Idlib province in northern Syria.
- Read more stories like this on Business Insider.
Donald Trump gave a graphic description of the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria following a US raid, claiming that he had died "whimpering and crying and screaming" after igniting a suicide vest in a dead-end tunnel with three of his young children.
The US President confirmed that the Islamic State leader had died at a White House press conference on Sunday morning, saying the Islamic State leader had "died like a dog."
It follows
"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead," the US President announced at a White House press conference on Sunday morning.
Trump said that Baghdadi died "whimpering and crying and screaming" after running into a "dead-end tunnel" being chased by dogs.
He added that 11 young children were moved out of the house and were uninjured, but that the ISIS leader brought three of his young children with him as he tried to escape through the tunnel. Trump said the children perished in the explosion caused by al-Baghdadi's suicide vest.
"He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place. God bless America," Trump said.
He called Baghdadi "a sick and depraved man" who was "vicious and violent and he died in a vicious and violent way."
News reports emerged on Saturday night which cited US defense officials who said they had "high confidence" Baghdadi had been killed during the operation.
Trump said despite al-Baghdadi's body being "mutilated" in the explosion and the tunnel caving in on him, test results gave "immediate and totally positive identification."
Reports emerged on Saturday that al-Baghdadi, one of the world's most hunted terrorists, had been tracked down and targeted in a raid by US Special Forces.
The raid was carried out in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, which has been ravaged by fighting and violence since the start of the civil war in the country.
Trump bragged that after the mission, troops took "highly sensitive material and information" from the compound pertaining to ISIS.
Read more
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a US military strike, according to Trump
US troops demolished ISIS leader's suspected building to prevent it from becoming a shrine