Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed: Here's how much bounty the US was offering for ISIS leader
Fox News confirmed a target, believed to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed.
The leader of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in Syria Saturday night, President Trump announced Sunday.
The Islamic State leader detonated an explosive vest as U.S. Special Operations Forces stormed his compound in the Idrib Province. Trump said he died whimpering at the back of a dead-end tunnel.
Considered a “high value target,” the ISIS leader had a $25 million reward for any information leading to his arrest.
The State Department increased the bounty value from $10 million in 2011 to the $25 million mark in 2016. In a press release at the time, the feds said that “under al-Baghdadi, ISIL has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of civilians in the Middle East, including the brutal murder of numerous civilian hostages from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.”
“The group also has conducted chemical weapons attacks in Iraq and Syria in defiance of the longstanding global norm against the use of these appalling weapons, and has enabled or directed terrorist attacks beyond the borders of its self-declared caliphate.”
Since the rewards program to achieve justice began, more than 80 people have provided information to arrest terrorists for payouts exceeding $125 million.
President Trump tweeted late Saturday night, "something very big has just happened!"
Last month, an audio recording claiming to have the voice of al-Baghdadi called for members to use any means necessary to free Muslims who were being detained “by Crusaders and their Shiite followers.”
Fox News' Jennifer Griffin, John Roberts and Hollie McKay contributed to this story.