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ISIS leader’s body tossed into sea, says US central command

Al-Baghdadi was buried at sea.

By Associated Press

The head of United States Central Command says Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was buried at sea after a weekend raid on his compound.

Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters Wednesday that al-Baghdadi died after he exploded a suicide vest just before U.S. troops were going to capture him.

McKenzie says two children were killed in the explosion set off by the Islamic State leader.

The U.S. said earlier that three children were killed.

U.S. forces raided the compound in northwestern Syria on Saturday. There were no U.S. casualties.

New leader expected to emerge

A U.S. counterterrorism official says he expects a new Islamic State leader to emerge after the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and warns that the extremist group’s planning of major attacks probably will go on as before.

“The ideology continues, the resonance continues, and that is a strategic concern for us,” Russell Travers, the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said at a congressional hearing on global threats.

Travers says the killing of ISIS leader al-Baghdadi by U.S. forces in Syria on Saturday was a “significant” development. But he says that ISIS, which once controlled a large swath of Iraq and Syria, has a “deep bench” of figures who could replace al-Baghdadi.