This archive report was first published on 27 October 2019.
On October 27, 2019, US forces launched a secret operation in Syria's Idlib region, targeting Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State.
According to US media reports, Baghdadi may have killed himself with a suicide vest as US special operations forces descended.
The operation was approved by President Donald Trump, and officials told ABC News that biometric work was underway to firm up the identification of those killed in the raid.
Baghdadi, a native of Iraq around 48 years old, built the violent jihadist movement into a potent force, establishing its own 'caliphate' territory across large swathes of Syria and Iraq in 2014.
The United States had posted a USD25 million reward for information on his whereabouts, and Baghdadi had been on the run since a US-led coalition slowly destroyed the group's organisation and ousted it from its claimed territory in a two-year campaign.
