Trump says US ‘terminated’ potential successor to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi By Mark Moore October 29, 2019 | 10:17am | Updated
President Trump announced on Twitter that the successor to Islamic State terror leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been “terminated by American troops.”
“Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot – Now he is also Dead!,” Trump said on Tuesday.
The president didn’t identify who was killed, but reports have said two ISIS members were in line to replace Baghdadi. Abdullah Qardash, known as “The Destroyer,” was believed to be the new No. 1 terrorist.
He had been running day-to-day operations of the terror group and took over Saturday following Baghdadi’s death.
Kurdish forces said Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, who served as a spokesman for the terror group and was thought to be next in line, was killed in a joint operation with American troops late Saturday.
Trump announced Sunday that Baghdadi had blown himself up as he tried to escape US special forces during a raid on his compound in northern Syria near midnight Saturday.