ISIS warlord Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was tracked down because he posted a bragging "comeback" video seven months ago, it's been reported.

It's claimed the terror chief's warped 18-minute address to his twisted followers provided vital clues to his secret whereabouts.

In the clip, the notorious escape artist shot down long-standing claims he had been wiped out in western strikes.

However, the Daily Star now reports the April clip eventually proved key to his forced suicide – which happened after he was chased into a tunnel by US commandos.

In it he can be heard name-checking the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka as revenge for their losses in the Syrian city of Baghouz.

David Otto, counter-terrorism and organised crime expert at Global Risk International, spoke to Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) troops who formed part of the operation.

He has now told Daily Star Online: “While Baghdadi was trying to prove that he was alive, that gave him away.

“It was the cause of his death, kind of. They began tailing him immediately when he appeared in the last video.”

Enemy forces were able to pinpoint Baghdadi’s location using the footage and began an undercover operation against him.

Mr Otto added: “He was concerned most of his top commanders believed that he was dead, so he came out to show himself.

“It was a very close source from the Kurdish forces who knew somebody who was in one of his closest circles."

Earlier this week, it was revealed the notorious terror chief was tracked down after an insider was able to steal his dirty underpants for DNA tests to be taken from them.

The operation to infiltrate the terror chief’s inner circle was run by Kurdish-led SDF and the source was also able to give room-by-room details of his hideout.

SDF commander General Mazloum Abdi claimed the spy was able to describe the ISIS leader's compound on the Turkish border, including the number of guards, floor plan and tunnels.

Baghdadi blew himself up along with three of his children after being cornered in a tunnel trying to flee US special forces, who stormed his hideout in Idlib, Syria on Saturday night.

He had been the subject of an international manhunt for years and had a £19.4m ($25m) bounty on his head.

General Mazloum told NBC news the mole was one of al-Baghdadi's security advisers and his work was relayed to the CIA.

The US spies wanted confirmation and so to prove their source was real and had access to the ISIS leader’s safe house, his underwear and later a sample of his blood were stolen.

The underwear was stolen about three months ago and the blood sample roughly a month ago.

Once these were confirmed as belonging to Baghdadi, the planning for the top secret raid began.

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General Mazloum said the source was taken to see Baghdadi and told to lie flat when he was being driven.

But he was still able to pick out landmarks during the journey and to see the general area he was being transported through, which helped to pinpoint the ISIS leader’s location.

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