Islamic State's leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is dead but the terror group 'is expanding'

President Donald Trump has announced that the Islamic State’s terrorist leaser, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has been killed in a US military operation. The leader was chased down by dogs before detonating a suicide vest.

The threads from the Islamic State is not finished, despite the death of its leader in a US military operation. That was the warning from experts after US President Donald Trump confirmed the death of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi on Sunday in Syria.

Chris Costa, a former senior director for counter-terrorism for the National Security Council in the Trump administration, said: "The bottom line is: This puts the enemy on its heels, but the ideology - and this sounds so cliched - it is not dead."

Mike Rogers, the ranking Republican on the house homeland security committee, said: "While the death of its leader is a tremendous blow for the group, about 10,000 ISIS fighters remain in the region and will continue to carry out guerrilla attacks and seek new territory."

What does Baghdadi death mean for IS?

Defence Secretary Mark Esper said on ABC's This Week: "Our job is to stay on top of that and to make sure that we continue to take out their leadership."

Experts have said that Islamic State is growing in numbers outside Syria, expanding its affiliate in Afghanistan and moving in to Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Mr Trump said on Sunday that US special forces had conducted a "daring raid" which lasted around two hours, during which a large number of al Baghdadi's companions were also killed or captured.

Al Baghdadi killed himself and three of his children during the operation by setting off a suicide vest, he added.

"He reached the end of the tunnel as our dogs chased him down," said the US president.

"He ignited his vest, killing himself and his three children.

"His body was mutilated by the blasts. The tunnel had caved on him."

Exclusive footage of IS leader's site

Test results from the aftermath of the raid confirmed the deceased was the Islamic State leader.

Mr Trump revealed that Kurdish intelligence helped the operation and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said it had worked with the US on a "successful" mission.

Iraq's military said its national intelligence service had located al Baghdadi and told the US of his whereabouts.

Mr Trump also thanked Russia for opening up their airspace, despite them not knowing the nature of the US mission.

Al Baghdadi was one of the world's most wanted criminals, with a bounty of $25m (£19.5m) on his head.

What do we know about Abu Bakr al Baghdadi?

The Islamic State leader has overseen the rise and fall of the terror group in Iraq and Syria

Al Baghdadi, who led IS for the past five years, was seen in the summer of 2014 in the pulpit of the Nouri mosque in Mosul.

He oversaw a shift away from large-scale attacks towards smaller acts of violence that would be harder for law enforcement to prevent.