WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Sunday that terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, perhaps the world’s most wanted man, was killed during a special operations raid over the weekend.

“Last night the United States brought the world’s No. 1 terrorist leader to justice,” Trump said at the White House in an early morning televised address to the nation.

Al-Baghdadi led the extremist organization known as the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Trump said he died after running into a dead-end tunnel while being chased by United States Special Operations commandos in Northwest Syria. Al-Baghdadi detonated an explosive vest that killed him as well as three of his children, Trump said.

He died like a dog, ” Trump said. “He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place.””He was a sick and depraved man, and now he’s gone,” Trump said.

Al-Baghdadi is the highest-ranking terrorist to be killed or captured since the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

United States Special Operations commandos made the raid late Saturday in northwestern Syria, Trump said. News reports said the raid targeted al-Baghdadi, who was located with the assistance of the CIA.

No U. S. personnel were killed in the raid, Trump said.

The announcement of Baghdadi’s death came three weeks after Trump abruptly announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to sweep into the area and attack Kuridsh rivals. That decision drew bipartisan criticism that Trump had abandoned a former ally that fought alongside U.S. forces against ISIS.

(Photo: Uncredited, AP)

The renewed fighting in the region also led to the release of an unknown number of ISIS fighters who had been impeached by the Kurds. Russian forces have also moved into the region as a fragile cease-fire along the Turkey-Syria border has taken hold.

Both the Kurds and the Turks said they provided assistance to the U. S. raid that targeted al-Baghdadi.

In another tweet, the Turkey Ministry of National Defense said: “Prior to the US Operation in Idlib Province of Syria last night, information exchange and coordination between the military authorities of both countries took place,”

Trump signaled the news Saturday night with an enigmatic tweet saying that ” something very big has just happened!”

About 90 minutes later, the White House announced that Trump would make a “major statement” from the White House on Sunday morning.

Officials also said that Secretary of Defense Mark Esper would appear on Sunday morning programs to discuss new developments in Syria.

As the leader of a self-proclaimed caliphate, the charismatic and vicious al-Baghdadi urged followers to carry out attacks against the United States and other western countries.

Syrian government forces reinforcements arrive near the city of Ras al-Ayn, in the north of Syria, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019.

(Photo: AP)

Many complied. Islamic State adherents included the woman and her husband who killed 14 people at a 2015 holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif.

There have been many previous reports of al-Baghdadi’s death that did not pan out, and the U.S. put a $25 million bounty on his head.

Al-Baghdadi appeared in an ISIS video in late April, his first public appearance in nearly five years, praising Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka against Catholic churches and high-end hotels that killed more than 250 people, including at least four Americans.

Trump critics took issue with Trump’s television drama-like rollout of the news about al-Baghdadi.

“So Trump has to Trump even the apparent murder of al-Baghdadi,” tweeted Robert E Kelly, a professor of political science at Pusan National University in South Korea. “He had to leak on to Twitter to create hype

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors events in that country, said the attack was “carried out by a squadron of 8 helicopters escorted by an International Coalition warplane,” and killed “about 10 individuals.”

Related: John Fritze, The Associated Press