Jihadist militia IS has posted a video featuring its self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi. In it he talks about the loss of territory of the IS and the attacks in Sri Lanka.
For a long time Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi, the leader of the terrorist militia „Islamic State“ (IS), was considered missing, several times his death was reported. Now, for the first time in five years, the IS has released a video that will show him in conversation with three men.
The only known public appearance of Bagdadi was in 2014 in Mosul, after the ISIS had only released sound recordings that should come from him. When and where the current video was taken is unclear.
In it, the man, who is said to be identical with the self-styled caliph, appears significantly aged: His graying beard seems to have been dyed red with henna. He sits on a mattress or a pillow, has crossed his legs and talks slowly, with long pauses and almost motionless. He seems powerless and battered.
Attacks in Sri Lanka for revenge?
„The fight for Baghus is over,“ he told his audience about the last IS stronghold in eastern Syria, which had conquered a coalition of Kurdish and US troops in March. The IS will „take revenge“ for his fighters killed threatens the speaker in the video: „It will happen even more after this fight.“
He also expressed his views on the recent terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, in which at least 260 people were killed: they were an act of revenge for the militia’s loss of territory. The IS claimed the series of attacks through its propaganda channels for itself, investigators and authorities from Sri Lanka, however, make a local militia responsible with international support.
The fact that he mentioned Benjamin Netanyahu’s election as Israeli Prime Minister in early April and the overthrow of the rulers in Algeria and Sudan also indicates that the video is relatively recent.
$ 25 million bounty
After the defeat in Baghus, the IS controlled only a few uninhabited desert areas, but according to experts, has relocated to terrorist attacks throughout the world.
The US has bailed out $ 25 million (equivalent to $ 22 million) on Baghdadi. According to jihadism experts, he hides with a close circle of supporters in the Badia Desert in the center of Syria.
