Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist and leader of the radical group known as ISIS, was killed on Saturday, October 26th during a U.S. raid on a safe house in northern Syria. While addressing the nation on Sunday, live from the White House, President Donald J. Trump disclosed that Baghdadi had killed himself and three of his children with a suicide vest. Though there were no casualties, two soldiers sustained minor injuries and a canine that had been pursuing al-Baghdadi.

The president and his top national security officials gathered in the White House situation room at around 5:00 p.m. after he had given the order to capture or kill al-Baghdadi the day prior. This option had been presented to President Trump on Thursday and was in coordination with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who provided the intel. According to a Syrian engineer, al-Baghdadi had sought refuge in the residence of Abu Mohammed Salama, a commander of another extremist group Hurras al-Din. Turkey as well as Russia were aware of the U.S.’ plans but provided no support. This was not the first attempt to capture or kill al-Baghdadi as three previous launches had been canceled.

The mission was completed by the Delta Force, officially known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), and the most highly trained elite forces in the U.S. Army. The attack included eight helicopters (CH-47 Chinooks) and 100 Navy Seals. The soldiers blew a hole in the side of the building to avoid any type of baited trap at the main entrance. With the help of an Arabic linguist, 11 children were rescued while the U.S. combatants proceeded to chase the fleeing al-Baghdadi. President Trump described the terrorist’s final moments as “screaming, crying and whimpering.”

At 7:15 p.m. Washington time, the special operations commander reported that al-Baghdadi had been killed along with five other enemy combatants in the compound. The commandos spent two hours collecting “highly sensitive” material, reported Trump, then bombed the compound, physically destroying it to ensure it would not become a shrine to ISIS in the future. To ascertain whether Baghdadi had been killed, operators had the team collect and test DNA samples.

Just after 9:00 p.m., President Trump tweeted “Something very big has just happened!” In spite of this success, plans for the attack were rushed into action as a direct result of President Trump pulling U.S. troops from northern Syria at Turkey’s request.

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