(UTV|COLOMBO) – Leader of the Islamic State group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a video message has claimed the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka in which over 250 persons were killed were “part of the revenge” that awaits the West.
The Leader of the Islamic State group claimed to appear for the first time in five years in a video released by the extremist group’s propaganda arm.
Despite numerous claims about his death in the past few years, al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts remain a mystery. Many of his top aides have been killed, mostly by US-led coalition airstrikes.
He is among the few senior IS commanders still at large after two years of steady battlefield defeats that saw the self-styled “caliphate” shrink to a valley from an area the size of Britain.
It is his first video appearance since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 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 in which he urged Muslims around the world to swear allegiance to the caliphate and obey him as its leader.
In the latest video, he acknowledged defeat in the group’s last stronghold in Syria but promising a “long battle” ahead.
Most significantly, he praised the recent attacks in Sri Lanka which he said have “pleased the hearts of Muslims,” and said it is “part of the revenge that awaits the Crusaders and their followers.”
The group has claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, and investigators are looking into the extent of the extremist group’s involvement with the local radicalized groups who carried out the suicide bombings.
Foreign Media Reports
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