*BAGHDAD: *The elusive chief of the Islamic State group Abu Bakral-Baghdadi has purportedly appeared for the first time in five years in apropaganda video released Monday by the extremist organisation.
It is unclear when the footage was filmed, but the man said to be Baghdadireferred in the past tense to the months-long fight for Baghouz, IS’s finalbastion in eastern Syria, which ended last month.
“The battle for Baghouz is over,” the man said, sitting cross-legged on acushion and addressing three men whose faces have been blurred.
But he insisted that IS’s operations against the West were part of a “longbattle,” and that IS would “take revenge” on members who had been killed.
“There will be more to come after this battle,” he said.
Baghdadi,47, had a long grey beard that appeared dyed with henna and spoke slowly,often pausing for several seconds in the middle of his sentences.
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He appeared for the first and last time in public in Mosul in 2014, wherehe declared an Islamic “caliphate” in the swathes of territory IS then heldin Syria and Iraq.
He was reported killed or injured multiple times since then.
His last voice recording to his supporters was released in August, eightmonths after Iraq announced it had defeated IS and as US-backed forcesclosed in next door in Syria. – APP/AFP
