Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi allegedly seen in rare video

In IS video, man said to be Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi praises Aussie jihadi, Sri Lanka bombers.

The man purporting to be ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the video posted on a militant website.

Islamic State has released a rare recorded video that purports to show its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, acknowledging defeat in the group’s last stronghold in Syria but vowing a “long battle” ahead.

In what would be the first known video footage of him in nearly five years, the 47-year-old terror group leader also lauded an Australian fighter who was killed in the group’s last battle for the city of Baghuz.

6) #Baghdadi mourned several foreign military/media members who were killed in the siege on #Baghuz, incl. the brothers Fabien & Jean-Michel Clain from #France, & others from #Australia, #Belgium, & #Chechnya - further confirming an area known to have high # of foreign fighters. pic.twitter.com/nz5XskmxOi

— Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) April 29, 2019

The dead Australian fighter was named by Nine Network’s Sydney Morning Herald as Abu Abdullah al-Australi, who reportedly worked for the terror group’s propaganda arm.

Baghdadi appeared in the video with a greying beard, urging followers to fight on despite the complete collapse of the extremist group’s self-declared caliphate last month when its last outpost in Syria was captured.

“The truth is the battle of Islam and its people with the crusaders and their people is a long battle,” says Baghdadi in the video, according to monitoring group SITE Intelligence. “There will be more to come after this battle,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal couldn’t independently confirm that the figure in the video was Baghdadi. Army Colonel James Rawlinson, a spokesman for anti-Islamic State coalition, said US officials were working to validate the video.

The video’s release came a month after US-backed forces ousted Islamic State from its last outpost in Syria, marking the end of a nearly five-year military campaign that forced the extremist group to transform itself from a governing authority back into a guerrilla insurgency as swaths of territory were freed from its brutal rule.

In the video, the man purported to be Islamic State’s leader discusses the Sri Lanka Easter bombings, saying they were an act of revenge following the caliphate’s loss of its last strip of territory in Syria.

“As for your brothers in Sri Lanka, they have put joy in the hearts of the monotheists with their immersing operations that struck the homes of the Crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghuz,” he is seen saying.

“This is part of the vengeance that awaits the Crusaders and their henchmen, Allah permitting. Praise be to Allah, among the dead were Americans and Europeans.”

Despite the fall of Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate, Baghdadi remains at large, having for years evaded a massive manhunt by the US military and intelligence agencies.

“We are continuing to support partner forces in their mission of an enduring defeat of Daesh, which includes the capability to finance their operations, recruit new members, and collaborate to conduct violent extremist attacks,” Colonel Rawlinson said, using a common term for Islamic State.

If authenticated, the video could provides clues to the militant leader’s whereabouts, US officials said.

Al-Baghdadi appeared to be in good health, although he spoke slowly and sometimes haltingly in the video. With a $25 million US bounty on his head, al-Baghdadi is the world’s most wanted man

Baghdadi, whose call to arms drew thousands of Muslims from around the world to battlefields in Syria and Iraq, is believed to be hiding in a remote stretch of desert that straddles the border between the two countries, Iraqi security officials have said.

To elude capture, Mr. Baghdadi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has gone low-tech, according to the officials, shunning trackable communications devices, moving in a single vehicle to avoid attention and trusting only a small circle of close aides.

The Wall St Journal