Alert eyes, ears raised high on Habacht, tongue laid casually over the fangs: A Belgian shepherd dog is well on the way to becoming a hero in the United States in the fight against international terrorism. The US government released a photo of the dog who persecuted the head of the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, during a military operation in Syria until his death.
Donald Trump praised the animal in the highest tones: The "wonderful" dog made in the use against Baghdadi a "great job," said the US President on Twitter. Previously, Trump had already praised the dog as "beautiful" and "talented".
We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did 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, 2019The animal was slightly injured when deployed on the night of Sunday, according to US chief of staff Mark Milley, it had done a "tremendous service". The fighting dog had chased the head of the jihadist militia in a tunnel, where Baghdadi then killed himself by igniting an explosives vest. The animal is on the way to full recovery and is already back on the side of the military responsible for him in the service, said Milley at a press conference at the Pentagon.
The name of the animal was not announced: "We protect the identity of the dog," says Milley. The top US general justified this by saying that the dog was still in the area of operation. Trump tweeted, only the photo of the animal was released, but not his name. He is a Belgian Shepherd, as two government employees told NBC News. This breed is often used by US Army special forces.
Mortal remains of IS leaders buried at sea
In addition, Milley announced that Baghdadi's remains were buried on the high seas. More detailed information on the place and the course of the funeral were not made. The "elimination" of Baghdadi's remains was "reasonable" according to military procedures and martial law and had been completed, Milley said. The funeral is reminiscent of that of Osama Bin Laden: Even the remains of the killed in 2011 in a US military deployment in Pakistan chiefs of the Al Qaeda terror network were buried in the sea.
The body of Baghdadi had been mutilated during the explosion of the explosives vest. His remains were then brought to a safe location for DNA testing, according to Milley. The tests confirmed that it was the IS leader.
