The Islamic State militant group confirmed yesterday that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed, the group's news agency Amaq announced in an audio recording.
Baghdadi, an Iraqi jihadist who declared himself the "caliph" of all Muslims and the leader of IS, was killed by members of the US special forces in Idlib in northwestern Syria, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday.
The extremist group did not advertise until yesterday. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi was appointed as the successor, Amak announced. Aymen al-Tamimi, a researcher at Swansea University focused on Islamic State, said the name was not known, but that it might be Hajd Abdullah, who the US State Department has identified as a possible successor to Baghdadi.
"It could be someone we know, who may have just accepted a new name," Tamimi said.
IS also confirmed the death of its spokesman Abu al-Hasan al-Muhajir. Muhajir was killed in a joint operation by US and Kurdish forces in northern Syria, just hours after Baghdadi's death in Idlib province.
US special forces carried out the Syrian operation in which Baghdadi killed himself and two children when he detonated a suicide vest when he was cornered in a tunnel, US officials said. The children he took with him were under 12 years old.
The US military announced yesterday that it expects retaliation for Baghdadi's murder.
The Pentagon has released the first footage of the raid by commandos on the IS leader's hideout and the subsequent bombing.
The head of the US Central Command, General Kenneth McKenzie, said that the bombing was carried out after all the attackers and survivors had been evacuated, and in such a way that the complex near the Turkish border would not become a temple.
Baghdadi's remains were buried at sea, the military said. McKenzie said the US was under no illusions that it had destroyed IS and warned that the group would seek revenge.
"They will be dangerous. We suspect they will attempt some sort of revenge attack. We do not expect a future without blood because, unfortunately, that ideology still exists."
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