ISIS leader was betrayed by one of his own
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, spent his last months hiding in a part of northern Syria dominated by rival jihadist groups. And he was paying one of those groups protection money — at least $67,000, receipts show.
The rival group kept his secret, but Mr. al-Baghdadi was betrayed by one of the few people he trusted, two American officials said, leading to his death in a Special Forces raid.
Background: The informer’s identity remains a secret. But one individual with knowledge of the events described him as “a very, very close, trusted confidant” of the ISIS leader.
The details: Six other people were killed in the compound, the Pentagon said, in addition to Mr. al-Baghdadi and the children he took with him when he detonated a suicide vest. American forces recovered laptops, cellphones and thumb drives that could provide a window into the organization.