During the special forces raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a military dog chased him down a tunnel and was injured when the ISIS leader detonated his suicide vest.
The dog is being hailed as a hero and lauded for the bravery it exhibited.
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
According to Fox News:
Though no U.S. forces were killed in the Saturday evening raid that led to the death of an ISIS leader, one military working dog suffered severe injuries in the line of duty.
The dog, whose name and breed remain unknown, chased Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi into a tunnel and cornered him. With no place to go, the terrorist leader blew himself up along with three of his children, who he was using as human shields. The dog’s injuries highlighted the importance of military working dogs in special operations. Often, they will enter the danger zone with a camera on their backs before the humans do so.
“The dog is a war veteran and a valued member of the team,” a currently serving soldier assigned to Delta Force told the Washington Examiner. The soldier did not provide details, pending permission from the dog’s handler and chain of command. Everyone involved in the mission is being debriefed and is out of communication for the time being, the soldier said. Within the community, he says, “The injury to the dog is an injury to one of us. These dogs are a special breed of courageous.”
Military working dogs are essential teammates for U.S. soldiers, especially in the counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations that followed the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. But the dogs used by the military’s most elite units are elite themselves. Like their human counterparts, they are hand-picked to serve in units like Delta Force, the Army Rangers, and the Navy SEALs.
The dogs are usually German shepherds or Belgian Malinois and specialize in sniffing explosives and attacking the bad guys.
