The Islamic State group leader who reportedly had a $25 million bounty on his head is believed to have been killed in Syria.
A "high value ISIS target" -- believed to be Islamic State mastermind Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi -- was killed by U.S.-led forces in Idlib, a well-placed military source told Fox News on Saturday night.
A senior Trump administration official later confirmed the source's account.
But at 9:23 p.m. Saturday, President Trump posted a Twitter message hinting at "very big" news.
ISIS LEADER CALLS FOR 'CALIPHATE SOLDIERS' TO FREE DETAINEES FROM CAMPS, CONTINUE ATTACKS
****** Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Something very big has just happened! 9:23 PM - Oct 26, 2019 ******
Soon after, the White House issued a statement that major news would be announced there at 9 a.m. Sunday.
Newsweek reported late Saturday that Baghdadi was killed during a special operations mission that President Trump approved about a week ago.
In September, an audio recording purportedly by Baghdadi included a call for members of the extremist group to use any means necessary to free Muslims who were being detained "by Crusaders and their Shiite followers."
The U.S. had reportedly posted a bounty of $25 million for information leading to the capture of Baghdadi.
Earlier this year, Iraqi intelligence officials speaking to Fox News maintained he was lurking in Syrian border towns, often donning non-traditional or “regular” clothes, using a civilian car and making sure all those around him had no mobile phones or electronic devices in order to bypass detection.
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