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<\/a>FILE PHOTO: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears at a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. \u00a9 Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n
The US got rid of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi\u2019s body mere hours after a swift DNA test confirmed the terrorist\u2019s identity, Pentagon officials said, adding that all evidence of the raid and his burial at sea remains classified.<\/p>\n
Following the US special forces operation in northwestern Syria, in which Washington claims al-Baghdadi was eliminated, the mutilated body was immediately taken\u00a0\u201cto a secure facility to confirm his identity with forensic DNA testing,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Army General Mike Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news briefing.<\/p>\n “The disposal of his remains has been done and is complete and was handled appropriately.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Just like al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS\/ISIL) terrorist group chief was reportedly given a proper burial at sea in accordance with Islamic tradition, with all Muslim religious rites afforded to him. While the raid and subsequent processes of identification and body \u2018disposal\u2019 were documented in numerous photos and videos, they are yet to go through a\u00a0\u201cdeclassification process,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0according to the US general.<\/p>\n “We are not prepared at the time to release those.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Even though Donald Trump said earlier he was considering making\u00a0\u201ccertain parts\u201d<\/em>\u00a0of the video from the raid available to the public \u2013 presumably with al-Baghdadi\u00a0\u201cwas whimpering, screaming, and crying\u201d<\/em>\u00a0as he met his end \u2013 it remains unclear how much of footage would see the light, if any.<\/p>\n The Obama administration never publicly released any video footage of the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, or photos of his body, claiming they could pose a\u00a0\u201cnational security risk.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Washington\u2019s public announcement that al-Baghdadi had finally been neutralized, this time for real, sounded\u00a0\u201cconfident,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0but has yet to be backed up by hard evidence, the UN Monitoring Team on terrorist groups said previously. Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s Defense Ministry\u00a0questioned<\/a>\u00a0at least parts of the story, noting that despite Trump\u2019s claims, it never opened up the Syrian air space under its control to US jets, and didn\u2019t record any US coalition airstrikes in the area.<\/p>\n