The compound was razed by US munitions after the raid, leaving it looking like “a parking lot with large potholes,” said Marine Corps General Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command.McKenzie, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, also provided several new details about Sunday’s raid.He said that two children were killed -- and not three as President Donald Trump previously said -- when Baghdadi blew himself up with a suicide vest in a tunnel as he tried to escape US troops.He said the children appeared to be under 12 years old.McKenzie was asked about Trump’s claim that Baghdadi had fled into the tunnel “crying and whimpering.” “About Baghdadi’s last moments, I could tell you this,” he said. “He crawled into a hole with two small children and blew himself up while his people stayed on the ground.” Baghdadi “may have fired from his hole in his last moments,” he added.McKenzie said that in addition to Baghdadi and the two children, four women and one man were killed at the compound.He said the women had acted in a “threatening manner” and were wearing suicide vests.An unknown number of nearby fighters were also killed when they opened fire on US helicopters, McKenzie said.Video released by the Pentagon showed airstrikes on a group that appeared to consist of up to a dozen or so people on the ground.McKenzie declined to provide any further details about the two men captured in the raid, but said that a “substantial” amount of electronics and documents had been recovered from the compound.He said Baghdadi had been identified through comparison with his DNA, which had been on file since his 2004 detention in an Iraqi prison.BREAKING: The Pentagon has released footage from the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. pic.twitter.com/tpBIJNfpuH
— MRCTV.org (@mrctv) October 30, 2019