IS 'Leader' Al-Baghdadi Appears in First Video in Five Years


A man
believed to be the leader of the Islamic State group has made a rare camera
appearance vowing to seek revenge for its loss of territory.
Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi has not been seen since 2014, when he proclaimed from Mosul the
creation of a "caliphate" across parts of Syria and Iraq.
In this new
footage, he acknowledges defeat at Baghuz, the group's last stronghold in the
region.
It is not
clear when the video was recorded. IS says it was shot in April.
The footage
was posted on the militant group's al-Furqan media network.
According to
news agency Reuters, Baghdadi says the Easter Sunday Sri Lanka attacks were
carried out as revenge for the fall of the Iraqi town of Baghuz.
He also says
that he has had pledges of allegiance from militants in Burkina Faso and Mali,
and talks about the protests in Sudan and Algeria - claiming that jihad is the
only solution to "tyrants". Both countries have seen their long-term
rulers overthrown this month.
However,
Baghdadi's image disappears towards the end of the video and an audio recording
of him discussing the Sri Lanka attacks is played instead, suggesting that this
part was recorded after the main video was filmed.
Baghdadi -
an Iraqi whose real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri - was last heard
from in an audio recording last August.
At the time,
he appeared to be trying to shift attention away from his group's crippling
losses, BBC Middle East correspondent Martin Patience says.
But this
latest 18-minute video addresses the losses head on.
"The
battle for Baghuz is over," he says, before adding: "There will be
more to come after this battle."
He also
reportedly says the group is fighting a "battle of attrition".
At its peak,
IS ruled over 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) stretching across the Iraq-Syria
border.
But by 2016
it was a group in retreat. The next year, it lost Mosul in Iraq, depriving
Baghdadi and his followers of the city where they had declared the caliphate's
creation
Baghdadi -
an Iraqi whose real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri - was last heard
from in an audio recording last August.
At the time,
he appeared to be trying to shift attention away from his group's crippling
losses, BBC Middle East correspondent Martin Patience says.
But this
latest 18-minute video addresses the losses head on.
"The
battle for Baghuz is over," he says, before adding: "There will be
more to come after this battle."
He also
reportedly says the group is fighting a "battle of attrition".
At its peak,
IS ruled over 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) stretching across the Iraq-Syria
border.
But by 2016
it was a group in retreat. The next year, it lost Mosul in Iraq, depriving
Baghdadi and his followers of the city where they had declared the caliphate's
creation
FROM .bbc.com/news/world-middle-east
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