Trump says Daesh leader Baghdadi dead in US forces raid

US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as leaves the White House in Washington.- AP

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that fugitive Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a raid by US special forces in northwest Syria, in a major blow to the militant group.
Baghdadi killed himself during the raid by igniting a suicide vest, Trump said in a televised address from the White House. Test results from the aftermath of the raid had positively identified Baghdadi, he said.
"He was a sick and depraved man and now he's gone," Trump said.
Baghdadi had long been sought by the United States, as head of a militant group that at one point controlled large areas of Syria and Iraq. The group has carried out atrocities against religious minorities and attacks on five continents.
In recent years the group had lost most of its territory. But while the destruction of the quasi-state that Baghdadi built has denied the group its recruiting tool and logistical base from which it could train fighters and plan coordinated attacks overseas, most security experts believe that Daesh remains a threat through clandestine operations or attacks.
Trump had faced withering criticism from fellow Republicans and Democrats for announcing a withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria earlier this month, which permitted Turkey to attack America's allies as it sought to set up a "safe zone".
Many critics of the pullout have expressed concern both at the abandoning of the Kurdish forces who had been instrumental in defeating Daesh in Syria, and that the move might allow the group to regain strength and pose a threat to US interests.