In last days, al-Baghdadi sought safety in shrinking domain

In this Oct. 27, 2019, file photo, people look at a destroyed houses near the village of Barisha, in Idlib province, Syria, after an operation by the U.S. military which targeted Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the shadowy leader of the Islamic State group. In his last months on the run, al-Baghdadi was agitated, fearful of traitors, sometimes disguised as a shepherd, sometimes hiding underground, always dependent on a shrinking circle of confidants. 

For months, al-Baghdadi also kept a Yazidi teen as a slave, and she told the Associated Press how he brought her along as he moved.

The reports paint a picture of a man trying to find safety as the extremists’ domains crumbled. In the end, the brutal leader once hailed as “caliph” left former IS areas completely, slipping into hostile territory in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province run by the radical group’s al-Qaida-linked rivals. There, he blew himself up during an Oct. 26 raid by U.S. special forces on his heavily fortified safe house.