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CIA chief vows to remove IS leader on anniversary of bin Laden death

Xinhua, May 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

On the fifth anniversary of killing al-Qaida mastermind Osama bin Laden, U.S. spy chief John Brennan said Sunday that removing the leader of the extremist group Islamic State (IS) will have "a great impact."

In an interview with the NBC TV network's "Meet the Press" talk show, Brennan, director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), said that he had no doubt that the IS will be destroyed and its leadership has to be removed.

Brennan specifically mentioned that if the IS top leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, were killed, it would have "a great impact."

"If we got Baghdadi, I think it would have a great impact on the organization, and it will be felt by them," the spy head said.

The interview was conducted on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the killing of al-Qaida leader bin Laden by U.S. special forces in Pakistan on May 2, 2011.

"We have destroyed a large part of al-Qaida. It's not completely eliminated. So we have to stay focused on what it can do," Brennan said.

At the same time, Brennan warned that fighting the IS faces "unique challenges" as it is not just an "organization" but "a phenomenon."

He revealed that the United States knew that the IS was trying to carry out attacks in Europe and other parts of the globe.

"Also, we are working very, very closely with our European partners," he added.

He was referring to the recent spate of terror attacks carried out by the IS in Paris and Brussels that killed and wounded hundreds of people and shocked the whole world.

The spy chief also criticized the attempt to release 28 classified pages of a 2002 congressional report on the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, which allegedly links Saudi Arabia to them.

Brennan said that the congressional inquiry was a "preliminary review" of the attacks that contains unverified material that was not checked out at the time.

But he added that the 9/11 Commission later had thoroughly investigated and reviewed the issues and made "a very clear judgement" that there was no evidence indicating that the Saudi government, as an institution, or Saudi officials individually, had provided financial support to al-Qaida. Endi