brought the world's number-one terrorist leader to justice.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead.

He was the founder and leader of ISIS,

the most ruthless and violent terror organization

anywhere in the world.

The United States has been searching for Baghdadi

for many years.

Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top

national security priority of my administration.

US Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous

and daring nighttime raid in Northwestern Syria

and accomplished their mission in grand style.

The US personnel were incredible.

I got to watch much of it.

No personnel were lost in the operation,

while a large number of Baghdadi's fighters

and companions were killed with him.

He died after running into a dead-end tunnel,

whimpering and crying and screaming all the way.

The compound had been cleared by this time,

with people either surrendering or being shot and killed.

11 young children were moved out of the house

and are uninjured.

The only ones remaining were Baghdadi in the tunnel,

and he had dragged three of his young children with him.

They were led to certain death.

He reached the end of the tunnel as our dogs chased him down.

He ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children.

His body was mutilated by the blast.

The tunnel had caved in on it, in addition.

But test results gave certain, immediate,

and totally positive identification.

It was him.

The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others

spent his last moments in utter fear,

in total panic and dread,

terrified of the American forces bearing down on him.

We were in the compound for approximately two hours,

and after the mission was accomplished,

we took highly sensitive material

and information from the raid,

much having to do with ISIS origins, future plans,

things that we very much want.

Baghdadi's demise demonstrates America's relentless

pursuit of terrorist leaders and our commitment

to the enduring and total defeat of ISIS

and other terrorist organizations.

Our reach is very long.

As you know, last month,

we announced that we recently killed Hamza bin Laden,

the very violent son of Osama bin Laden,

who was saying very bad things about people,

about our country, about the world.

He was the heir apparent to Al-Qaeda.

Terrorists who oppress and murder innocent people

should never sleep soundly,

knowing that we will completely destroy them.

These savage monsters will not escape their fate,

and they will not escape the final judgment of God.

Baghdadi has been on the run for many years,

long before I took office.

But on my direction,

as Commander in Chief of the United States,

we obliterated his caliphate 100% in March of this year.

Today's events are another reminder

that we will continue to pursue the remaining ISIS

terrorists to their brutal end.

That also goes for other terrorist organizations.

They are likewise in our sights.

Baghdadi and the losers who worked for him,

and losers they are,

they had no idea what they were getting into.

In some cases, they were very frightened puppies.

In other cases, they were hard-core killers,

but they killed many, many people.

Their murder of innocent Americans James Foley,

Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig,

and Kayla Mueller were especially heinous.

The shocking, publicized murder of Jordanian pilot,

a wonderful young man -- spoke to the King of Jordan.

They all knew him. They all loved him.

He was burned alive in a cage for all to see.

And the execution of Christians in Libya and Egypt,

as well as the genocidal mass murder of Yazidis rank ISIS

among the most depraved organizations --

the history of our world.

The forced religious conversions,

the orange suits prior to so many beheadings --

all of which were openly displayed for the world to see.

This was all that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi --

this is what he wanted.

This is what he was proud of.

He was a sick and depraved man, and now he's gone.

Baghdadi was vicious and violent,

and he died in a vicious and violent way,

as a coward, running and crying.

This raid was impeccable

and could only have taken place with the acknowledgement

and help of certain other nations and people.

I want to thank the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria,

and Iraq, and I also want to thank the Syrian Kurds

for certain support they were able to give us.

This was a very, very dangerous mission.

Thank you, as well, to the great intelligence professionals

who helped make this very successful journey possible.

I want to thank the soldiers and sailors, airmen,

and Marines involved in last night's operation.

You are the very best there is anywhere in the world.

No matter where you go, there is nobody even close.

I want to thank General Mark Milley

and our Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And I also want to thank our professionals

who work in other agencies of the United States government.

They were critical to the mission's unbelievable success.

Last night was a great night for the United States

and for the world.

A brutal killer,

one who has caused so much hardship and death,

had violently been eliminated.

He will never again harm another innocent man, woman, or child.

He died like a dog.

He died like a coward.

The world is now a much safer place.

God Bless America.

Thank you. Any questions?

-When did you first hear

that this was an operation was gonna get started?

-We've had him under surveillance

for a couple of weeks.

We knew a little bit about where he was going,

where he was heading.

He had very good information

that he was going to another location.

He didn't go.

Two or three efforts were cancelled

because he decided to change his mind --

constantly changing his mind.

And finally, we saw that he was here -- held up here.

We knew something about the compound.

We knew it had tunnels.

The tunnels were dead-end, for the most part.

There was one we think that wasn't,

but we had that covered, too, just in case.

The level of intelligence,

the level of work was pretty amazing.

When we landed, with eight helicopters,

a large crew of brilliant fighters

ran out of those helicopters

and blew holes into the side of the building,

not wanting to go through the main door

because that was booby-trapped.

And there was something --

It was something really amazing to see.

I got to watch it, along with General Milley,

Vice President Pence, others, in the Situation Room,

and we watched it so clearly.

-How did you watch the -- -Well, I don't want to say how,

but we had absolutely perfect,

as though you were watching a movie.

It was -- The technology there alone is really great.

A big part of the trip that was of great danger was the --

It was approximately an hour and 10 minute flight,

and we were flying over very, very dangerous territory.

In fact, some of our leaders

said that could be the most dangerous --

flying in and flying out.

And that's why last night we were so quiet about it.

We didn't say anything.

And I didn't make my remark

until after they had landed safely in a certain area.

But the flight in,

the flight out was a very, very dangerous part.

There was a chance that we would have met unbelievable fire.