The leader of the so-called Islamic State has called on Muslims worldwide to take up arms and flock to the "caliphate" it had declared on captured Syrian and Iraqi soil. 
 
 Proclaiming a "new era" in which Muslims will ultimately triumph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi issued the call to jihad - holy war - in an audio message lasting nearly 20 minutes that was posted online on Tuesday. 
 
 Baghdadi, who has assumed the mediaeval title of caliph, used the message to seek to assert authority over Muslims everywhere. He called on them to rise up and avenge the alleged wrongs committed against their religion, from Central African Republic to Myanmar (Burma). 
 
 "By Allah, we will take revenge, by Allah we will take revenge, even if after a while," he said. 
 
 "They have a statement that will cause the world to hear and understand the meaning of terrorism, and boots that will trample the idol of nationalism, destroy the idol of democracy and uncover its deviant nature." 
 
 Wednesday's statement comes as Iraq's parliament adjourned for a week, an hour into its first session, after it failed to reach an agreement on senior appointments. 
 
 Colonial-era borders 
 
 The group, previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), proclaimed the caliphate on Sunday and declared Baghdadi its leader, in a bid to sweep away state borders and redraw the map of the Middle East. 
 
 Translations in English, Russian, French, German, and Albanian were also posted online. 
 
 The declaration of the caliphate followed a three-week drive for territory by ISIL fighters and their allies among Iraqi's Sunni Muslim minority. 
 
 Dominating swathes of territory in an arc from Aleppo in Syria to near the western edge of Baghdad, the caliphate aims to erase colonial-era borders and defy the US- and Iranian-backed government of Iraq's Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. 
 
 While ISIL's power grab may appeal to many fighters, there have already been signs of dissent. 
 
 Some armed groups fighting in Syria have rejected the announcement of the caliphate, saying its terms had not "been realised at present", and urged Muslims to avoid siding with the Islamic State. 
 
 Iraq's Association of Muslim Scholars, which was formed to represent minority Sunnis, said in a statement: "Any group that announces a state or an Islamic emirate ... under these conditions is not in the interest of Iraq and its unity." ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption IS footage purportedly shows a bulldozer merging the areas it has seized, as Frank Gardner reports 
 
 Jihadist militant group Isis has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. 
 
 It also proclaimed the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and "leader for Muslims everywhere". 
 
 Setting up a state governed under strict Islamic law has long been a goal of many jihadists. 
 
 Meanwhile, Iraq's army continued an offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit from the Isis-led rebels. 
 
 The city was seized by the insurgents on 11 June as they swept across large parts of north-western Iraq. 
 
 In a separate development, Israel called for the creation of an independent Kurdish state in response to the gain made by the Sunni rebels in Iraq. 
 
 Allegiance demand 
 
 The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) announced the establishment of the caliphate in an audio recording posted on the internet on Sunday. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Amateur footage captured gunfire and car horns being sounded in Raqqa, the stronghold of Isis in Syria, after the announcement was made on Sunday 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Isis militants said they would now want to be known as "the Islamic State" 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kurdish troops clashed with Isis in Jalawla, in Iraq's northern province of Diyala 
 
 Isis also said that from now on it would be known simply as "the Islamic State". 
 
 The BBC's Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, says the declaration harks back to the rise of Islam, when the Prophet Muhammad's followers conquered vast territories in the Middle Ages. 
 
 The Sunni-Shia split has its origins in a dispute over the succession to Muhammad. 
 
 Analysis: The BBC's Paul Adams in Baghdad 
 
 It's easy to dismiss the latest crop of Isis videos and statements as mere propaganda (however well produced), but the announcement of the establishment of a caliphate is rich with religious, cultural and historic significance. 
 
 Generations of Sunni radicals have dreamt of a moment when, in the words of Isis spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, Muslims "shake off the dust of humiliation and disgrace" and a new caliphate rises out of the chaos, confusion and despair of the modern Middle East. 
 
 Many Sunnis, and all Shia, will recoil in horror from the barbarism that has accompanied this moment, but the sight of old colonial-era boundaries being erased is a powerful statement, designed to attract new recruits to this whirlwind jihad. 
 
 In one of the Isis videos uploaded on Sunday, a bearded fighter called Abu Safiyya guides the viewer around a newly demolished border post. The video, with its arresting imagery and impressive production values, is designed to electrify the group's followers. 
 
 The fact that Abu Safiyya is described as being from Chile merely adds to what the authors hope is now the organisation's global appeal. 
 
 Isis said the Islamic state would extend from Aleppo in northern Syria to Diyala province in eastern Iraq. 
 
 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group said, would become the leader of the state and would be known as "Caliph Ibrahim". 
 
 In the recording, the rebels also demanded that all Muslims "pledge allegiance" to the new ruler and "reject democracy and other garbage from the West". 
 
 What is a caliphate? 
 
 An Islamic state ruled by a single political and religious leader, or Caliph 
 
 Caliphs are regarded by their followers as successors to the Prophet Muhammad and the leader of all Muslims 
 
 First caliphate came into being after Muhammad's death in 632 
 
 In the centuries which followed, caliphates had dominion in the Middle East and North Africa 
 
 The last widely accepted caliphate was abolished in 1924 by Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire 
 
 The Ahmadiyya sect of Islam has recognised a caliphate for the last century, but it is only this group that does so 
 
 On Sunday, Iraqi government jets struck at rebel positions and clashes broke out in various parts of Tikrit, witnesses and officials said. 
 
 "The security forces are advancing from different areas", Lt-Gen Qassem Atta told journalists. "There are ongoing clashes." 
 
 Troops had reportedly pulled back to the nearby town of Dijla as Saturday's initial offensive met stiff resistance. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption These refugees from Mosul are among many now sheltering at a camp in Iraqi Kurdistan 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption An Iraqi machine-gunner guards a highway west of Karbala, a Shia holy city 
 
 The heavy fighting over the two days caused many casualties on both sides, eyewitnesses and journalists told the BBC. 
 
 Insurgents were reported to have shot down a helicopter and captured the pilot. 
 
 Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the creation of an independent Kurdish state in response to gains made by Sunni insurgents in Iraq. 
 
 In a speech in Tel Aviv, he said the Kurds were "a nation of fighters and have proved political commitment and are worthy of independence". 
 
 The Kurds have long striven for an independent state but they remain divided between Syria and Turkey, Iran and Iraq. 
 
 The international community, including neighbouring Turkey and the US, remains opposed to the breakup of Iraq.
– A self-proclaimed "caliph" of the Middle East is urging Muslims worldwide to join the fight in Iraq and one day conquer the world, "if Allah wills." Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the newly named Islamic State (formerly ISIS) that has grabbed swaths of northern Iraq, issued his call today in an online audio tape, the Telegraph reports: "Rush O Muslims to your state. It is your state. Syria is not for Syrians and Iraq is not for Iraqis. The land is for the Muslims, all Muslims. This is my advice to you. If you hold to it you will conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills." He also called on judges, doctors, and engineers to add their skills to the battlefield, and told everyday jihadists to intensify fighting for the month of Ramadan, which started yesterday. He described their battle as one between "belief and hypocrisy," the latter including Jews, the US, and Russia, NBC News reports. The Islamic State just pronounced al-Baghdadi as "caliph," a medieval title, but of course not everyone agrees; fighters in Syria and an association of Muslim scholars in Iraq have already issued rejections, Al Jazeera reports. Meanwhile, the Sunni militant group showed off a parade of military hardware this weekend in a Syrian town, including armored personnel carriers, tanks, and a scud missile—but experts say the missile is likely inoperable, the Daily Mail reports. (The Islamic State also crucified eight rebel fighters deemed "too moderate.")