The elusive chief of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has appeared for the first time in five years in a propaganda video released by the armed group.

ISIL's Al Furqan media network published on Monday what it said was a video message from its leader, in which he said the group would seek revenge for the killing and imprisonment of its fighters.

It was unclear when the footage was filmed but al-Baghdadi referred in the past tense to the months-long fight for Baghouz, ISIL's final bastion in eastern Syria, that ended last month.

"The battle for Baghouz is over," said the ISIL leader with a bushy grey beard and an assault weapon close by, sitting cross-legged on a cushion and addressing three men whose faces had been blurred.

Wearing a black robe with a beige vest, al-Baghdadi gave an 18-minute address.

The SITE Intelligence group said he also discussed the bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people on Easter Sunday in an audio recording after the video ends.

"Your brothers in Sri Lanka have healed the hearts of monotheists [ISIL members] with their suicide bombings, which shook the beds of the crusaders during Easter to avenge your

brothers in Baghouz," he said.

'More to come'

This was his first appearance in a video since delivering a sermon at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, in Mosul, Iraq, in 2014. That speech marked the rise of the group and its self-declared "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.

In January of the same year, ISIL took the Syrian city of Raqqa as its de-facto capital. By June, the group had also captured Iraq's second city of Mosul, with a population of two million people. It held both cities until 2017.

Grisly public executions were a regular occurrence in ISIL's former areas, including burning people alive and beheadings.

At its peak in January 2015, ISIL controlled an area across Syria and Iraq roughly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom and had attracted 40,000 fighters to its cause.

With a $25m US bounty on his head, al-Baghdadi is the world's most wanted man. Despite numerous claims about his death in the past few years, his whereabouts remain a mystery.

"Our battle today is a war of attrition to harm the enemy, and they should know that jihad will continue until doomsday," al-Baghdadi said in the video.

The written script at the start of the video dated it to earlier in April. The authenticity and date of the recording could not be independently verified.

Al-Baghdadi has periodically issued audio statements. His last voice recording to supporters was released in August 2018 - eight months after Iraq announced it had defeated ISIL and US-backed forces closed in on the group in Syria.

In the video published on Monday, he insisted ISIL's operations against the West were part of a "long battle" and the group would "take revenge" for its members who had been killed.

"There will be more to come after this battle," said al-Baghdadi, apparently referring to the final fight in Baghouz.

The 'caliphate'

Over the years, several armed groups outside the Middle East, including in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia, have pledged allegiance to ISIL, claiming devastating attacks on both civilians and security personnel.

The United Nations in 2016 said at least 34 groups from around the world had pledged allegiance to the group.

Judit Neurink, journalist and author of The War of ISIS: On the Road to the Caliphate, said the video would send an important message to ISIL's fighters that al-Baghdadi was "still there" at the head of the group.

"ISIS want to show Sri Lanka was how 'we are going to be, we are going to be everywhere, no longer in Iraq and Syria, but all these different places where you have to watch out for us, all our people are going to attack in different places, the global jihad is a fact'," Neurink added.

Nader Hashemi from the University of Denver said al-Baghdadi is trying to capitalize on the Sri Lanka massacre to draw attention to ISIL's continued threat despite its defeat in the Middle East.

"This is also a huge embarrassment for Donald Trump's administration. Just a few weeks ago, Trump was claiming, 'mission accomplished' and 'the war is over'. This video clearly sends a message to the Americans - and Trump in particular - that the head of the organisation is very much alive," Hashemi told Al Jazeera.</s>BEIRUT – The leader of the Islamic State group has appeared for the first time in 5 years in a video released by the extremist group’s propaganda arm.

The video released by Al-Furqan on Monday shows Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appearing with a bushy grey and red beard, wearing a black robe with a beige vest and seated on the floor with what appears to be a machine-gun propped up next to him.

READ MORE: Despite losing all territory, Islamic State’s leader is still at large

It is his first video appearance since he delivered a sermon at the al-Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014.

The SITE Intelligence group said al-Baghdadi acknowledged in the video the end of the battle in Baghouz, the group’s last stronghold in Syria, and discussed the bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people.</s>The leader of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group has appeared in a video for the first time in five years.The video -- released by the IS's media outlet, Al-Furqan, on April 29 -- shows Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appearing with an unkempt, bushy gray and red beard while sitting on the floor against a wall. He is wearing a black robe with a light vest over it and has a machine gun near his right arm. Three masked men are seen listening to him speak.He says his group's operations against the West are a "long battle."It is unknown where the 18-minute video was taken and both Iraqi and U.S.-backed forces are seeking to capture the extremist leader.A State Department spokesman said it will review the recording and allow the "intelligence community to confirm its authenticity."He added thatBaghdadi, 47, last appeared in a video while delivering a sermon at the Al-Nuri Mosque in 2014 in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which had been taken by IS forces when they swept over large swathes of Iraq and Syria. It was during that speech that he declared the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.The SITE Intelligence group saidA date on the video said it had been recorded in April. But the authenticity and date of the video cannot be verified.Baghdadi has been reported killed or injured several times in recent years.</s>Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears for first time in 5 years in video released by the extremist group

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears for first time in 5 years in video released by the extremist group.</s>The leader of the so-called Islamic State group has appeared for the first time in five years in a video released by the extremist group’s propaganda arm.

In the clip, he acknowledged defeat in the group’s last stronghold in Syria, but vowed a “long battle” ahead.

The Site Intelligence group said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in the video, also discussed the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka which killed over 250 people and for which the group claimed responsibility.

The video released by Al-Furqan on Monday shows al-Baghdadi with a bushy grey and red beard, wearing a black robe with a beige vest and seated on the floor with what appears to be a machine gun propped up next to him.

He is speaking with three men seated opposite him whose faces were covered and blotted out.

ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo says that the video of al-Baghdadi is "really significant" for so-called Islamic State, as it shows that the most-wanted man in the world has been able to evade capture, something that many supporters will see as confirmation of their "perceived magical status".

Rohit Kachroo continues that the video proves that contrary to reports from Russia that they had killed al-Bahghdadi, and from others that he was in ailing health, the terror group's leader appears in good health and was alive recently - the fact that he refers to recent events such as the fall of the Alergian and Sudanese presidents and the Sri Lanka attacks proving this.

He adds that al-Baghdadi has outlived the caliphate, but while he is alive, so is so-called IS' warped ideology.</s>Chief of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in a propaganda video, asserted that the battle for Baghouz, ISIL's final bastion in eastern Syria, "is over."

Al Jazeera cited the video, published by ISIL's Al Furqan media network on Monday, in which the ISIL leader seemed to have grown a bushy grey beard. He kept an assault weapon close by and sat in a cross-legged position on a cushion along with three men by his side whose faces were blurred.

"There will be more to come after this battle," said al-Baghdadi, apparently referring to the final fight in Baghouz.

Al-Baghdadi had appeared for the first time in the propaganda video since delivering a sermon at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri, in Mosul, Iraq, in 2014, declaring a "Caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.

Meanwhile, an audio message was also put out, purportedly of al-Baghdadi, saying that the April 21 attacks in Sri Lanka, which left at least 253 people dead, was "vengeance" for ISIL's "brothers in Baghouz".

"Your brothers in Sri Lanka have healed the hearts of monotheists [ISIL members] with their suicide bombings, which shook the beds of the crusaders during Easter to avenge your brothers in Baghouz," al-Baghdadi was reportedly heard saying.

"Our battle today is a war of attrition to harm the enemy, and they should know that jihad will continue until doomsday," he mentioned in the video.

The leader further insisted that ISIL's operations against the West were part of a "long battle" and the group would "take revenge" for its members who had been killed.

Wearing a black robe with a beige vest, al-Baghdadi gave an 18-minute address in the video. However, it is unclear when the footage was filmed.

Baghouz, the last piece of populated land held by the ISIL, which once spread across a third of Iraq and Syria, is roughly equivalent to the size of the United Kingdom and attracted 40,000 fighters to its cause.

At its peak, the terror outfit controlled huge parts of Iraq and Syria with a population of over 10 million people. However, since 2017, the terror group started losing hold on major territories in both countries to the United States-backed military forces.

Last month, US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had resumed attack against Baghouz with an objective to clear out the last traces of its self-declared 'Caliphate'.</s>CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State’s media network on Monday published a video message purporting to come from its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in what would be his first appearance since declaring the jihadists’ now-defunct “caliphate” five years ago.

In the 18-minute video from the Al Furqan network, a bearded man with Baghdadi’s appearance says the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka were Islamic State’s response to losses in its last territorial stronghold of Baghouz in Syria.

The group is engaged in a “battle of attrition” and will seek revenge for jailed and killed militants, he says, calling for militants operating in west Africa to multiply attacks against “Crusader France and its allies”.

The authenticity and date of the recording could not be independently verified.

The video would be the first from Baghdadi since he was filmed in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. More recent speeches have been released as audio recordings.

Written script at the start of the video dates it to earlier in April, and he can be seen sitting cross-legged on the floor giving an address to several aides with their faces covered.

The speaker looks like a slightly older version of Baghdadi than when he was pictured in 2014, addressing followers from a pulpit to declare a caliphate stretching across Iraq and Syria.

In the footage released on Monday, he is dressed in black robes and a beige waistcoat, with a long graying beard dyed red at the bottom.

Baghdadi’s whereabouts have been unknown since Islamic State’s territorial control began disintegrating with the fall of Mosul and Raqqa, its strongholds in Iraq and Syria respectively, in 2017.

There had been conflicting reports over whether Baghdadi, an Iraqi, is still alive. But security sources have recently said he is thought to be hiding out in remote areas of Syria or Iraq.

The CIA had no immediate comment on the video.

U.S. air strikes killed most of Baghdadi’s top lieutenants, including “war minister” Abu Omar al-Shishani, “governor of the Iraqi region” Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, group spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani and “governor for Syria” Abu Ali al-Anbari.

Though it lost its last significant territory, the Syrian village of Baghouz, last month, the group has sleeper cells around the world and some fighters operate from the shadows in Syria’s desert and Iraq’s cities.

It claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people.</s>BEIRUT (AP) - The leader of the Islamic State group has appeared for the first time in 5 years in a video released by the extremist group's propaganda arm.

The video released by Al-Furqan on Monday shows Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appearing with a bushy grey and red beard, wearing a black robe with a beige vest and seated on the floor with what appears to be a machine gun propped up next to him.

It is his first video appearance since he delivered a sermon at the al-Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014.

The SITE Intelligence group said al-Baghdadi acknowledged in the video the defeat in the battle for Baghouz, the group's last stronghold in Syria, and discussed the bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people.

This image made from video posted on a militant website on Monday, April 29, 2019, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, being interviewed by his group's Al-Furqan media outlet. Al-Bagdadi acknowledged in his first video since June 2014 that IS lost the war in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz that was captured last month by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. (Al-Furqan media via AP)

This image made from video posted on a militant website on Monday, April 29, 2019, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, being interviewed by his group's Al-Furqan media outlet. Al-Bagdadi acknowledged in his first video since June 2014 that IS lost the war in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz that was captured last month by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. (Al-Furqan media via AP)

This image made from video posted on a militant website on Monday, April 29, 2019, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, being interviewed by his group's Al-Furqan media outlet. Al-Bagdadi acknowledged in his first video since June 2014 that IS lost the war in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz that was captured last month by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. (Al-Furqan media via AP)

This image made from video posted on a militant website on Monday, April 29, 2019, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, being interviewed by his group's Al-Furqan media outlet. Al-Bagdadi acknowledged in his first video since June 2014 that IS lost the war in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz that was captured last month by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. (Al-Furqan media via AP)</s>Five years ago, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi mounted the pulpit of a mosque in Iraq to declare himself the head of a rapidly expanding terrorist organization.

Since then, his group, the Islamic State, has transfixed the world with its apocalyptic violence while he has remained a mystery. Spottings were rare. Rumors swirled that he was wounded or dead. The United States put $25 million on his head and still failed to find him.

On Monday, he reappeared, leaning on a cushion with an assault rifle at his side, in a video seeking to rally his followers after the loss of the group’s territory in Iraq and Syria and its execution of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in years, on Easter in Sri Lanka.

“Our battle today is a battle of attrition, and we will prolong it for the enemy, and they must know that the jihad will continue until Judgment Day,” he said in the video.

The message he intended to send was clear, analysts said: The Islamic State still exists, he is still in charge, and its international network of militants will continue to stage painful, unpredictable attacks. If he felt compelled to reveal himself now, after years in hiding, they said, it was to reassert his authority in the face of a punishing loss in Syria.

“Baghdadi has remained off the grid for so long that his sudden appearance will very likely serve as both a morale boost for ISIS supporters and remaining militants and as a catalyst for individuals or small groups to act,” said Colin P. Clarke, a senior fellow at the Soufan Center, a research organization for global security issues. “He is essentially reasserting his leadership and suggesting that he sits atop the command-and-control network of what remains of the group, not only in Iraq and Syria, but more broadly, in its far-flung franchises and affiliates.”

It was unclear when or where the video was recorded, but the parts that refer to recent events, like the Sri Lanka attack, are addressed in audio, not video, suggesting that it may have been recorded weeks ago with newer audio portions added later.

Much has changed for the Islamic State since al-Baghdadi appeared at Al Nuri Grand Mosque in Mosul, Iraq, in 2014. It was not just a militant group, he said, but a state that would be ruled according to the group’s extreme ideology.

That vision drew in tens of thousands of adherents from across the world, who populated an Islamic proto-state the size of Britain, stretching across Iraq and Syria with millions of people under its rule.

Now that territory is gone, after a four-year battle that ended in defeat last month at the hands of U.S.-backed forces in the town of Baghuz, Syria.

Al-Baghdadi acknowledged that loss in the video, an 18-minute infomercial released by an Islamic State media group Monday and distributed by the SITE Intelligence Group. Seated cross-legged on the ground in an Arab-style sitting room, he calmly told a group of unidentified followers that the battle was far from over.

“Truthfully, the battle of Islam and its people with the crusader and his people is a long battle,” he said. He called on his followers to continue pursuing their enemies “with all of their abilities.”

And he said that the attack in Sri Lanka, in which at least 250 people were killed, was carried out “in revenge” for the Islamic State’s losses in Baghuz.

The video appeared at a critical inflection point for the Islamic State.

Despite claims that the loss of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria had vanquished the group, it is believed to still have thousands of fighters there who have gone underground.

And as it lost territory in the Middle East, it has expanded abroad, turning to its international affiliates to carry out attacks farther afield. The coordinated bombing attack in Sri Lanka last week was one of the group’s deadliest, causing nearly twice as many deaths as the 2015 Paris attacks did.

Little is known about where and how al-Baghdadi spent the last five years. He has rarely appeared in public. While he released occasional audio messages to guide to his followers, he never appeared in videos, the assumption being that such caution was necessary for his security.

The toll of those years was evident on al-Baghdadi’s face. In the video, he appears to have put on weight, and gray has streaked his beard, its ends dyed auburn with henna.

Even though al-Baghdadi is one of the most wanted men on the planet, his whereabouts remains a mystery.

He is believed to be in hiding somewhere in the sparsely populated desert spanning the border along Iraq and Syria. U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism officials say he eschews all electronic devices, which could identify his location, and probably communicates through a series of couriers.

He remains a top target for the CIA and the military’s elite Joint Special Operations Command, which includes the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team 6. Occasional reports of his death notwithstanding, multiple attempts to kill him have failed.

The video appeared to be an effort to demonstrate that despite his group’s tremendous losses, it is still active, and he is paying attention. He made passing references to the Israeli election and the toppling of longtime strongmen in Sudan and Algeria.

He also called out a number of the group’s leaders by name, mentioning fighters and operatives from Belgium, Australia and Saudi Arabia, reflecting the multinational organization the Islamic State has become.

“He’s exhibiting his ‘humble and modest’ self, unlike his last appearance where he is portrayed in what may be referred to as glorious standing, empowered by his group’s achievements, essentially standing at the top of the world,” said Laith Alkhouri, senior director of Flashpoint, which tracks global terrorism. “In today’s video, he appears defeated, but for his base he’s uplifting.”

The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified, but terrorism experts saw little reason to doubt that it was al-Baghdadi.

The Islamic State has not used frequent videos to create a cult of personality around its leader the way that al-Qaida did with Osama bin Laden, but it could be heading in that direction, said Joshua Geltzer, who served as senior director for counterterrorism on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council.

“I guess they considered the payoff worth it to show the organization hasn’t truly been defeated, even in its core manifestation,” he said.

Although the group has lost its territory in Iraq and Syria, it still claims a caliphate, which it considers a global project.

Hinting at the group’s global ambitions, the video ended with a follower handing al-Baghdadi files in plastic covers about the group’s different “states,” in Yemen, Somalia, Turkey and elsewhere.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The shadowy leader of the Islamic State group appeared for the first time in five years in a video released by the extremist group's propaganda arm on Monday, acknowledging defeat in the group's last stronghold in Syria but vowing a "long battle" ahead.

The SITE Intelligence group said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in the video, also discussed the Easter Day bombings in Sri Lanka which killed over 250 people and for which the group claimed responsibility.

The video released by Al-Furqan on Monday shows al-Baghdadi with a bushy grey and red beard, wearing a black robe with a beige vest and seated on the floor with what appears to be a machine gun propped up next to him. He is speaking with three men seated opposite him whose faces were covered and blotted out.

It is his first video appearance since he delivered a sermon at the al-Nuri mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. In that video, he appeared as a black-robed figure with a trimmed black beard to deliver a sermon from the pulpit of the mosque in which he urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the caliphate and obey him as its leader.

Al-Bagdadi acknowledged that IS lost the war in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz, which was captured last month by the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

"In fact, the battle of Islam and its people against the Crusaders and their followers is a long battle," he said.

He said the battle of Baghouz demonstrated the "barbarism and brutality" of the West and the "courage, steadfastness and resilience of the nation of Islam."

"This steadfastness shocked the hearts of the Crusaders in what increased their rage," he added.

Referring to the setbacks in battle, he said the "brothers" of the many fallen fighters "will avenge that, as they will not forget as long as they have blood in their veins, and there will be a battle after this one."

It is unclear when or where the video was filmed. Al-Baghdadi spoke slowly and haltingly in the video.

With a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, al-Baghdadi is the world's most wanted man, responsible for steering his chillingly violent organization into mass slaughter of opponents, and directing and inspiring terror attacks across continents and in the heart of Europe.

Despite numerous claims about his death in the past few years, al-Baghdadi's whereabouts remain a mystery. He appeared in public only once, in 2014. Since then, many of his top aides have been killed, mostly in U.S.-led coalition airstrikes.

He is among the few senior IS commanders still at large after two years of steady battlefield losses that saw the self-styled "caliphate" shrink from an area the size of Britain to a tiny speck in the Euphrates River valley.

Although largely seen as a symbolic figurehead of the global terror network — he was described as "irrelevant for a long time" by a coalition spokesman in 2017 — al-Baghdadi's capture would be a coveted prize for the various players across both Syria and Iraq.

But so far, he has eluded the Americans, Russians, Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds.
A propaganda video featuring Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is released, in which he references the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings, indicating that he is still alive and that the video was shot very recently. It is the first time he's been seen on video since July 2014, when he addressed a crowd at the now destroyed Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul.