Dog injured in al-Baghdadi raid that killed ISIS leader returns to service: report

The military working dog wounded in the weekend raid that reportedly killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has recovered and returned to service, according to Task and Purpose.

President Trump said in an address Sunday that the unnamed dog chased the ISIS leader into a tunnel, after which al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest.

{mosads}”Our K-9, as they call — I call it a dog, a beautiful dog, a talented dog — was injured and brought back,” Trump said on Sunday. “But we had no soldier injured.”

After the two-hour raid in northern Syria’s Idlib province, military aircraft destroyed the compound where al-Baghdadi had been hiding, according to Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

The dog’s breed was not immediately known, but a Belgian Malinois named Cairo accompanied the Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden 2011, with then-President Obama meeting the dog after the raid.

Later on Monday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said the dog was “slightly wounded and fully recovering” and is “still in theater, returned to duty with its handler.”

He said he would not reveal the name because the dog is still in theater.

“It’s a classified unit, we’re protecting the dog‘s identity.” 

Rebecca Kheel contributed to this report which was updated at 2:30 p.m.