Daily Star
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has released his first new video in five years – confirming he is still alive despite numerous reports of his death.
Baghdadi has not been pictured in any form since he gave a notorious speech at the pulpit of the Great Mosque in Mosul.
It comes after ISIS claimed its most deadly attack in history with the bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.
Various claims had emerged of the years saying he had either been killed or injured amid the fighting in the Middle East.
Terror analyst Rita Katz said: “The video shows Baghdadi in a casual conversational setting with others (their faces blurred).
“He talks about war against ‘Crusaders’ and about battles in Baghouz, Syria, being over, indicating that this interview was filmed somewhat recently.”
Katz added: “In anticipation for the video, announced a day prior, ISIS support network hyping it with nonstop creation of social media accounts and channels on Telegram.
“Scale of the activity definitely exceeds that of recent releases, showing troubling resiliency of the group’s online network.”