Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was hiding in a part of Syria controlled by a rival extremist group because he was paying them to protect him, according to accounts uncovered by investigators, the New York Times reports.
The Islamic State is known for proper accounting, so the accounts showed that the Huras al Din group was paid 67 thousand dollars. Hurras al Din is a group linked to Al Qaeda and an enemy of the Islamic State. And while the enemy kept al-Baghdadi's secret, he was betrayed by a close associate, US officials said, leading to the operation in which he was killed.
Al-Baghdadi has spent the last months in an isolated villa in Barisha, a village in Idlib province controlled by rival jihadist groups and hundreds of kilometers from former Islamic State territory between Syria and Iraq.
The receipts bear the seal of the Ministry of Security of the Islamic State and the signature of one of the officials of Huras al Din
The Islamic State paid Hurras al-Din, whose members regularly clashed with them, for the services needed by one of the most wanted men in the world – security equipment, media equipment, salaries and logistical expenses. The receipts bear the seal of the Ministry of Security of the Islamic State and the signature of one of the officials of Huras al Din. One of them says that seven thousand dollars were paid to prepare the base for the arrival of the brothers from Al Cairo province, one of the last to be lost by IS.
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At the same time, the Islamic State appears to have tried to infiltrate Hurras al-Din, which publicly told members in February to stay away from members of the Islamic State. However, the papers show that the cooperation at the highest level was secret and the authenticity of the documentation has not been disputed until now. During the very withdrawal of the Islamic State, communications indicated that fighters were fleeing to Idlib province, which indicated some level of cooperation with the groups there.
U.S. officials who spoke anonymously to The New York Times said al-Baghdadi arrived at the compound in July, that intelligence agents had been monitoring the area since then, and that it was initially deemed too dangerous to operate due to the presence of al-Qaeda-linked groups. , as well as due to the fact that Russia and Syria control the airspace. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw US troops from northern Syria prompted the decision to carry out the operation to keep al-Baghdadi out of sight.
US officials have not released the identity of the man who betrayed the Islamic State leader for security reasons, but one official described him as a man very, very close to al-Baghdadi. He was previously recruited by the intelligence part of the Kudra militia, which had good contacts in the region. An insider even stole al-Baghdadi's underwear and obtained a blood sample to take a DNA test and confirm that it was al-Baghdadi and not a double, militia commander Mazlum Abdi told the New York Times.
Multiple members of the Islamic State who have had contact with al-Baghdadi over the past five years have said he became so paranoid about his inner circle being infiltrated that he trusted only a handful of people.
General Kenneth McKenzie, who oversaw the covert operation, said six IS fighters were killed, including Baghdadi. He added that members of other militant groups were also killed in the clash.
No American special forces were injured in the action, emphasized General McKenzie. The only person injured was a military dog that was electrocuted by an electric wire, but recovered and returned to service.
"Once it became clear that we had received clear and useful intelligence on his hiding place, we developed a plan designed to capture or kill him and began preparing a special operations team for the mission," McKenzie said.
The special forces team stormed the location with transport helicopters, and had aerial support from combat helicopters, fourth- and fifth-generation fighter jets and drones, the American general said.
President Donald Trump approved the plan for action, and US Central Command coordinated with Russia and Turkey to avoid an inadvertent conflict, McKenzie said.
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