A military working dog is doing well and has been returned to service after being injured in Saturday’s raid that led to the death of ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The dog, whose name is classified, had chased Baghdadi into a tunnel when the terrorist detonated a suicide vest, killing three children whom he was using as human shields, officials have said.
President Donald Trump tweeted a picture of the dog on Monday, noting that its name still has not been released:
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
No other injuries have been reported in connection with the raid.
Once special operators were on the ground in northwest Syria, the raid lasted about two hours, after which military aircraft destroyed Baghdadi’s compound, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said during Sunday’s episode of ABC News’ “This Week.”
While the dog’s identify is a state secret, Newsweek reporter James LaPorta first revealed on Monday that the dog is named “Conan” for the comedian Conan O’Brien – and not after the Arnold Schwarzenegger film “Conan the Barbarian.”
Task & Purpose was able to independently verify that the dog’s name is Conan.
The picture tweeted by Trump indicates that Conan is a female dog but defense officials were unable to confirm the dog’s gender.
Conan is reportedly a Belgian Malinois, the same breed as Cairo, the dog that accompanied Navy SEALs when they killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
President Barack Obama met Cairo after the raid, but the dog was required to wear a muzzle as the president petted him.
UPDATE: This story was updated on Oct. 28 with the military working dog’s name.