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Footage Of The Delta Force Raid That Killed ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi
Published 3 years ago
The following video compiles clips released by CENTCOM, showing the Oct. 26, 2019 Delta Force raid in Syria that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
According to the reports, US intelligence had been honing in on Baghdadi's whereabouts over the days, weeks, months, and even years leading up to the raid. Suddenly, they had rock-hard intelligence that the terror leader would be in a specific compound at a certain time, and they only had 48 hours to spin up a plan and execute the mission before the window of opportunity would close indefinitely.
The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta, also known as Combat Applications Group (CAG) or Delta Force, inserted near the compound via Chinook helicopters flown out of al Assad Airbase in Iraq. Baghdadi's henchmen were alerted to the arrival of US troops and gathered to defend their leader. Thermal aerial footage shows the group of insurgents being eliminated in a single burst of high explosive munitions.
The special operations troops then closed in on the compound and released canines. Baghdadi donned an explosive-laden suicide vest and took three of his children into a tunnel to use as human shields. As the military canines closed in, Baghdadi detonated his vest, killing himself and three of his children.
The US troops spent two hours combing through the compound, capturing significant pieces of intelligence on the ISIS terror network's members, and future plans. They also conducted a DNA test on the mangled corpse of the slain terrorist to confirm his identity.
Several ISIS fighters were killed during the operation. Only one American service personnel, the 1st SFOD-D's military working dog, "Conan," was injured, and that was due to direct exposure to live electrical wires, but Conan has since recovered and returned to duty.