The Dog That Brought The ‘Caliph’ Down: US President Trump Tweets Picture Of ‘Good Boy’ Involved In Al-Baghdadi Raid

US President Donald Trump today (29 October) tweeted a photo of a dog that took part in the raid targeting the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, reports The Guardian.

The “wonderful” Belgian Malinois was apparently injured when Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest when US Special Forces converged on his hiding place in Syria.

Trump said he had declassified the image of the dog, but not its name.

However, a Newsweek report citing multiple sources said the dog was called Conan – after the comedian Conan O’Brien – and was female.

On Sunday, the US president had hailed the dog as a “good boy”, “beautiful” and “talented”, who had chased down Baghdadi moments before he detonated his vest.

“We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB,” Trump wrote on Monday (28 October).

At a press conference on Monday, Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told reporters: “We’re not releasing the name of the dog right now … the dog is still in theatre.”

The defence secretary, Mark Esper, said the dog “performed a tremendous service, as they all do”.