President Donald Trump revealed a picture of the heroic dog who took down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in his latest Twitter post on Monday.
“We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi!” Trump wrote.
We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi! pic.twitter.com/PDMx9nZWvw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2019
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Monday that the dog has returned to duty, according to the Military Times.
The name of the dog is not being released because of the classification of the unit involved in the raid.
“We are not releasing the name of the dog right now,” Milley said. “Slightly wounded and fully recovering-but the dog is still in theater, returned to duty, with its handler. So, we’re not going to release just yet photos or names of dogs or anything else. It’s a classified unit and (we’re) protecting the dog’s identity,” he said, according to Reuters.
According to a Defense Department official, the dog is a Belgian Malinois, favored by the military for sensitive missions. German shepherds are also a common breed used for military operations. The two breeds are “capable of a variety of tasks, including attacking the enemy and bomb-sniffing,” the Examiner reported.
The dog accompanied a force of U.S. special operators who located and tracked al-Baghdadi at his compound in northwest Syria, about four miles from the border with Turkey, Milley said.
Trump said on Sunday that al-Baghdadi killed himself, along with three children he had with him, by detonating a suicide vest after fleeing into a dead-end tunnel.
The dog chased Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi into the underground tunnel and cornered him. The terrorist leader, who was wearing a belt lined with explosives, ignited the suicide bomb that killed him and three of his own children while wounding one of the U.S. military dogs.
“Our ‘K-9,’ as they call it,” Mr. Trump said on Sunday, “I call it a dog. A beautiful dog—a talented dog—was injured and brought back.”
This isn’t the first time American armed forces have relied on a dog for backup in operations targeting terrorists. In 2011, a dog named Cairo took part in the raid that led to Osama bin Laden’s death. Cairo secured the area around the bin Laden compound while Navy SEALs went in.
Al-Baghdadi oversaw ISIS, which has been responsible for more than 140 terrorist attacks in nearly 30 countries, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths.
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips and The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
