The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of so-called Islamic State (ISIS), marks the demise of one of the most brutally effective jihadist leaders of modern times.

Al-Baghdadi commanded tens of thousands of fighters from around the world, carved out a territorial caliphate in the Middle East and refined a horrific ideology that survives him.

US President Donald Trump announced that al-Baghdadi was killed in a US raid in Syria after he was chased into a tunnel with three of his children and set off an explosives vest.

ISIS lost its last foothold of territory earlier this year to US-backed Kurdish-led forces, but al-Baghdadi had continued to exhort remnants of the group to carry out attacks.

His death is a major blow, but the extremist group has survived the loss of previous leaders and military setbacks going back to the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Here is a look at al-Baghdadis death and what it means going forward.

Who was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?

Born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai in 1971 in Samarra, Iraq, he adopted the nom de guerre al-Baghdadi early on and joined the Sunni insurgency against US forces after the 2003 invasion. He was detained by US troops in February 2004 and spent 10 months in the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq.

He eventually assumed control of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq, an al Qaida-linked group founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant killed in a US air strike in Iraq in 2006. Under al-Baghdadi, the group expanded into neighbouring Syria, exploiting the chaos unleashed by that countrys 2011 uprising and civil war.

In the summer of 2014, his fighters swept across eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq, eventually carving out a self-styled caliphate in a third of both countries.

In early July, al-Baghdadi made his first public appearance, delivering a sermon in a centuries-old mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul and declaring himself caliph, or leader of the worlds Muslims.

Under his leadership, the group carried out a wave of atrocities, including the enslavement and rape of thousands of women from Iraqs Yazidi minority. They massacred captives, beheaded journalists and aid workers, and threw individuals believed to be gay from the rooftops of buildings. They gleefully broadcast the killings with slickly produced videos and photos on social media.