MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Anything that may help weaken international terrorism should be only welcomed, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Sunday commenting on the reports about the extermination of Islamic State (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
"Anything that weakens international terrorism can only be welcomed. But in this case some things are embarrassing. First, al-Baghdadi has been reportedly killed at least five times and, second, it should be understood that countering terrorism is a much more difficult task that cannot be reduced to the physical extermination of its leaders, even the most irreconcilable ones," Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council upper parliament house, told TASS.
He said he was convinced that along with targeted strikes this task "means consolidation of efforts on the ground, blocking financial sources and countering propaganda of extremist ideologies." "And this is about team work rather than a mission for individual countries, especially if they seek to popularize their own actions rather than reach final solutions to common problems," he added.
US President Donald Trump said earlier in the al-Badgdadi had died in an overnight raid led by U.S. forces in Syria’s Idlib governorate. He said that many of al-Baghdadi’s supporters and Islamic State militants had been killed as well. There were no casualties among the US military.