Dog wounded in Baghdadi raid back on duty

WASHINGTON, United States — The military dog slightly wounded in the US raid which resulted in the death of jihadist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is recovering and back on duty, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.

General Mark Milley said the dog had performed a "tremendous service" during the special forces weekend assault in Syria that led to the death of the leader of the Islamic State group.

Announcing Baghdadi's death, President Donald Trump said Sunday that the "beautiful" and "talented" dog had pursued the IS leader into a dark tunnel where he blew himself up with a suicide vest, killing himself and three children and wounding the dog.

We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi! pic.twitter.com/PDMx9nZWvw

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2019

Trump tweeted a picture of the dog on Monday, saying it did a "GREAT JOB."

He said the name of the dog has not been declassified yet.

Milley also declined to provide the dog's name or any further details about the canine.

"We're not releasing the name of the dog right now," the general said.

He said the dog had been "slightly wounded and is fully recovering."

"The dog is still in theater, returned to duty, with its handler," he said.