MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov has refused to comment of US President Donald Trump’s statement that Islamic State (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had died in an operation by US forces.

"See what [Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor] Konashenkov said," Peskov told TASS when asked whether the Kremlin could confirm al-Baghdadi’s extermination.

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. According to Trump, al-Baghdadi had killed himself and three of his children by detonating a suicide vest while fleeing into a dead-end tunnel. He said that many of al-Baghdadi’s companions and militants had been killed as well. There were no casualties among the US military.

Apart from that, Trump thanked Russia, Iraq, Syria and Turkey for their assistance. He claimed that Russia had opened airspace over Syria for US aircraft.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday it doubted the US operation had ever taken place as it had no reliable proof that al-Baghdadi was dead. Moreover, it said it had not opened airspace over Syria for US air forces.