US May Release Parts of Baghdadi Raid Video

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump said Monday he may declassify and release part of the video taken Saturday of the raid in Syria in which the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed.

The video is believed to include aerial footage and possibly footage from cameras mounted on the soldiers who stormed Baghdadi’s compound. “We’re thinking about it. We may,” Trump told reporters before flying to Chicago. “We may take certain parts of it and release it.”

Trump said Sunday that Baghdadi had died “whimpering and crying” in a raid by US Special Forces in Syria, fulfilling his top national security goal.

World leaders welcomed Baghdadi’s death, but said the campaign against Daesh was not over, with so-called lone wolves likely to seek revenge.

Baghdadi, who had led the militant group since 2010, killed himself by detonating a suicide vest after fleeing into a dead-end tunnel as US forces closed in, Trump said in a televised address from the White House.

“He was a sick and depraved man and now he’s gone,” Trump said. “He died ... whimpering and crying and screaming.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to say if the United States had told Russia about the operation in advance.

But he added: “If this information is confirmed we can talk about a serious contribution by the president of the United States to the fight against international terrorism.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Baghdadi’s death was a major blow against Daesh but “the fight continues to finally defeat this terrorist organization.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We will work with our coalition partners to bring an end to the murderous, barbaric activities of Daesh [ISIS] once and for all.”

Australian premier Scott Morrison told reporters: “This is a many-headed monster. ... As you cut one-off, another one inevitably arises.”

In Southeast Asia, an important focus for Daesh, officials said security forces were preparing for a long battle to thwart the group’s ideology.

The Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, home to some of Asia’s most organized Islamist militants, said they were braced for retaliation by Daesh loyalists, including “lone wolf” attacks by radicalized locals.