Additional details have emerged regarding the hero dog that chased Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi into a tunnel, resulting in the terrorist leader blowing himself up.
The hero dog — of the Belgian Malinois breed — is female, and her name is Conan, according to a report by Newsweek, which added that a senior Pentagon source clarified that she was named after the comedian Conan O’Brien — not the famed fictional character, Conan the Barbarian.
On Monday, President Donald Trump released a declassified photo of the military dog, and praised her for doing “such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”
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
Conan is a Belgian Malinois, the same breed as the dog that was involved in the Osama bin Laden military raid.
On Sunday, while announcing the ISIS leader’s death, President Trump mentioned that a “beautiful” and “talented” dog had been injured during the raid after al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest, killing himself, as well as three of his children.
Newsweek notes that “Sergeant Stubby” was the first dog in U.S. Army history — during World War I — to be granted a military rank:
Dogs typically are ranked as noncommissioned officers, a higher rank than the dog’s handler, and are routinely involved in high-level, special operation missions or assigned to conventional forces to find mprovised explosives devices.
As for Conan, she suffered slight wounds but is “fully recovering,” said Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley on Monday.
The military dog has since returned to duty.
She is assigned to 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, a unit known as Delta Force, which falls under the secretive Joint Special Operations Command. The forces are also referred to as Tier One, and are tasked with special missions, such as the operation to kill al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.
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