White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the US military operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named after American Kayla Mueller who was held hostage by ISIS and killed in 2015.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press”, O’Brien said, “the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff named the operation that took down al-Baghdadi after Kayla Mueller, after what she had suffered,” adding “that was something that people should know.”
About the military operation: President Trump addressed the country this morning from the White House to declare the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The President said a US special operations forces mission went after the ISIS leader and there were no US deaths during the operation.
Several ISIS fighters and companions of Baghdadi were killed, including two women wearing suicide vests and three children. Trump would not provide a specific number of casualties, only describing those targeted on scene as "more dead than alive." Eleven children were moved out of the house and are uninjured, the President said.