Baghdadi raid video released by Pentagon

WASHINGTON: General Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, on Wednesday released declassified images and video from the raid that resulted in the death of Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria’s Idlib province over the weekend. 

The Pentagon has showed brief black-and-white aerial footage of the raid and the subsequent bombing of Baghdadi’s compound in northern Syria.

One video showed small black silhouettes of US soldiers approaching the walls of the compound. In another bombs could be seen falling on the site followed by a flash and the screen turning grey.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) shared video on Twitter that showed fighters near the compound beginning to fire on US aircraft participating in the raid.

McKenzie said the bombing took place after all the attackers and survivors had been evacuated, and was carried out so that the compound near the Turkish border did not become a shrine.

The CENTCOM commander told reporters that four men and two women were killed in the assault, and that two children probably "under 12" years of age were killed when al-Baghdadi detonated his bomb-laden vest. 

He added Baghdadi’s remains – collected after he blew himself up in a tunnel - had been buried at sea.