This is the picture of the US military dog, which was shared on Twitter by US President Donald Trump. It is reporter that he was wounded during the daring operation on Islamic State (ISIS) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria. However, the name of the dog was not revealed.
Man's best friend; terrorist's worst enemy
Taking to Twitter, 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!"
Earlier, a WaPo journalist Dan Lamothe confirmed from his source that the wounded dog is doing fine and said that the name of the canine is not 'declassified' yet. "US official confirms that the working dog wounded in the Baghdadi raid is ok. I said, what's the dog's name? The source said it's classified. I said, really? The source said, yes," Dan Lamothe tweeted.
"Confirmed with a second source: As of this morning, at least, the dog's name is classified. Mind you, the dog's name is not 'Classified.' But it's classified," the scribe said in a follow-up tweet. Pentagon officials said on Monday that the dog is "fully recovering".
Hero K-9
The K-9, which officials declined to identify, accompanied the US special forces during the raid and played an instrumental role in locating and tracking al-Baghdadi at his compound in Syria's Idlib province. During the operation, the ISIS leader was ultimately killed, along with his wife and three children.
As per reports, the K-9 chased al-Baghdadi through a tunnel at his compound, following which the terrorist killed himself by detonating a suicide vest. The nature of the dog's injury was not revealed, but officials underlined that the canine played a key role in the success of the secret mission.
"The dog is still in theatre. The dog, the K-9, the military working dog, performed a tremendous service as they all do in a variety of situations. (It is) slightly wounded and fully recovering. But the dog is still in theatre (and) returned to duty with its handler," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told reporters here.
On Sunday, Donald Trump while confirming al-Baghdadi's death, said that the ISIS chief had "died like a dog" and "died like a coward" in the operation conducted by US forces in Syria. Donald Trump also spoke about the canine, saying a "beautiful dog" was injured during the operation.
Al-Baghdadi, the most notorious ISIS leader, had been in hiding for the last five years. The US had earlier announced a reward of USD 25 million for information leading to the terrorist's death or arrest.
