Trump Confirms ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi Killed in US Raid: ‘He Died Like a Coward’

President Donald Trump makes a statement in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Oct. 27, 2019. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

President Donald Trump confirmed the death of ISIS terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an overnight raid in northern Syria.

“Last night the United States brought the world’s No. 1 terrorist to justice,“ Trump said in a press conference on Sunday morning. ”Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS.”

He said that his death was among the top priorities of his administration, adding that “I got to watch much of it.”

Al-Baghdadi died after “running into a dead-end tunnel” and was “whimpering” and “crying all the way,” Trump remarked.

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the extremist group ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. Social Media Website via Reuters TV/File Photo

In the incident, Trump said that three of his young children were brought with him into the tunnel before he detonated a suicide vest, killing himself and the three children.

“It was him,” he said, confirming the terror leader’s death. “He spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic in dread,” Trump said.

Trump said that the death of al-Baghdadi is a sign to other terrorists around the world, adding that Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza bin Laden, was recently killed by U.S. forces.

File photo showing an explosion in the Syrian city of Kobani during a reported suicide car bomb attack by the ISIS terrorists on Oct. 20, 2014. Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images

Trump then noted all of the innocent people ISIS killed, including Christians, journalists, and members of other religions, during its brutal reign of terror in the region.

“So many beheadings,” Trump said, “openly displayed for the world to see.”

“This is what he wanted, this is what he was proud of. He was a sick and depraved man and now he’s gone,” he said, referring to al-Baghdadi. “He died like a dog, he died like a coward,” Trump later remarked.

The president also thanked the forces of the Kurds, Turkey, and Russia for helping in the operation to kill the notorious terror leader.

A video posted on a militant website July 5, 2014, purports to show the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq during his first public appearance. Militant video/AP/ File

Later, Trump said that al-Baghdadi was under surveillance for several weeks before the raid.

A U.S. official told The Associated Press late Saturday that al-Baghdadi was targeted in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province. The official said confirmation that the ISIS chief was killed in an explosion was pending. No other details were available. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss the strike and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Other news outlets also quoted U.S. military sources.

President Donald Trump is joined by Vice President Mike Pence (2nd L), National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien (L), Secretary of Defense Mark Esper (3rd R), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Mark A. Milley (2nd R) and Brig. Gen. Marcus Evans, Deputy Director for Special Operations on the Joint Staff in the Situation Room of the White House, monitoring developments in the U.S. Special Operations forces raid that took out ISIS terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on Oct. 26, 2019. Shealah Craighead/The White House via Getty Images

The Associated Press contributed to this report.