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This image made from video posted on a militant website 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-Furqan media via AP

Alleged Islamic State leader appears in video for first time in five years

The world’s most wanted man was last seen in Mosul in 2014

THE ISLAMIC STATE group’s elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his first purported appearance in five years in a propaganda video released earlier today, in which he acknowledges IS’s defeat at Baghouz.

The world’s most wanted man was last seen in Mosul in 2014, announcing the birth of IS’s much-feared “caliphate” across swathes of Iraq and Syria – but appears to have outlived the Islamic proto-state.

In the video released by IS’s Al-Furqan media outlet, the man said to be Baghdadi referred to the months-long fight for IS’s final bastion Baghouz, which ended in March.

“The battle for Baghouz is over,” he said, sitting cross-legged on a cushion and addressing three men whose faces have been blurred.

He referred to a string of IS defeats, including its onetime Iraqi capital Mosul and Sirte in Libya, but insisted the jihadists had not “surrendered” territory.

“God ordered us to wage ‘jihad.’ He did not order us to win,” he said.

In a segment in which the man is not on camera, his voice referred to the 21 April Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, which killed 253 people and wounded nearly 500, as “vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz”.

The man said to be Baghdadi insisted IS’s operations against the West were part of a “long battle”, and that IS would continue to “take revenge” for members who had been killed.

“There will be more to come after this battle,” he said.

‘The Ghost’

The video is filmed in a white walled room lined with cushions, but it was unclear exactly where or when the footage was shot.

The man in the video had a long grey beard that appeared dyed with henna and spoke slowly, often pausing for several seconds in the middle of his sentences.

He was identified as Baghdadi by both the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks IS, and Hisham al-Hashemi, an Iraqi expert on the group.

But the US-led coalition, which has backed operations in both Iraq and Syria to defeat IS, said it was still trying to “independently corroborate the validity of the video posted today reportedly showing Abu Bakr al Baghdadi”.

Born Ibrahim Awad al-Badri in 1971, Baghdadi was a passionate football fan who came from modest beginnings in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

After US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, he was detained in the American-run Camp Bucca, where is believed to have come of age as a jihadist.

He later rose through the ranks of Iraq’s Al-Qaeda franchise and eventually took the helm in 2010, expanding into Syria in the midst of that country’s war in 2013.

The following year, Baghdadi declared himself “caliph” of IS’s sprawling territory in an infamous sermon from Mosul’s famed Al-Nuri mosque.

He then lay low for years, earning him the nickname “The Ghost” amid repeated reports he had been killed or injured as IS’s territory shrunk.

His last voice recording to his supporters was released in August, eight months after Iraq announced it had defeated IS and as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces closed in next door in Syria.

The SDF at the time said it did not believe Baghdadi was in Syria.

The United States has a $25-million US bounty on his head.

- © AFP 2019

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Corlett
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:38 AM

    Well we have a teacher pretending to do a Taoiseachs job

    204
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    Mute Buckwheat MacMillan
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:46 AM

    Very original, an off topics dig at govt. a first for the journal

    88
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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
    Favourite Neal Ireland Hello
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:49 AM

    Alan, it’s quite normal for a taoiseach to have been in a different job before he became taoiseach. They don’t come up through a special Taoiseach-training college.

    119
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    Mute Alan Corlett
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    Apr 26th 2015, 12:01 PM

    Therein lies the problem

    58
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    Mute Lesley Mulhall
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:41 AM

    Is it wrong that I found that quite funny? Head case. What possessed her.

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    Mute Arthur Pewty
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:43 AM

    yes, it is wrong.

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    Mute juicy pants
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:46 AM

    You’re the head case for finding that funny.

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    Mute Lesley Mulhall
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:47 AM

    Think I might be on my way to hell!

    55
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    Mute juicy pants
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:54 AM

    Get her to pull your teeth and you’re half way there!

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    Mute Alan O Reilly
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:58 AM

    What time do dentists take a break….tooth hurty

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    Mute Biscuits Patinkin
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    Apr 26th 2015, 12:09 PM

    TAXI FOR O’REILLY

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    Mute Chief
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    Apr 26th 2015, 12:32 PM

    One way to nevercomebacksville

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    Mute Celticspirit321
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:35 AM

    Plenty cowboys in Ireland too

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    Mute Chief
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    Apr 26th 2015, 12:30 PM

    I know!!!

    54
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    Mute Joanna
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:53 AM

    She totally copied Mr. Bean.

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    Mute David Beattie
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    Apr 26th 2015, 12:02 PM

    At least the authorities copped on to her and got to the Root of the problem.

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    Mute Mark Fields
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    Apr 26th 2015, 11:41 AM

    Tooth fairy?

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    Mute tonymcc
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    Apr 26th 2015, 12:01 PM

    Looks like she has nice teeth,

    15
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    Mute Lauren Masterson
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    Apr 26th 2015, 12:14 PM

    I cried reading this.. All those poor patients … I’m crying for them … I sympathise for the ones who now have dry socket .. I have dry socket on both sides of my mouth where I had my upper wisdom teeth removed last week by a real dentist .. Well I think it was a real dentist. Lol seriously though whatever about pulling teeth performing root canals ??? Ouch

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    Mute Lauren Masterson
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    Apr 26th 2015, 2:49 PM

    Thanks pontius your support is appreciated . Big shout out to the manufacturers of neurophen plus !!

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    Mute Anna Fierce
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    Apr 26th 2015, 6:22 PM

    I think the moral of this story is don’t comment on articles when you’re dosed up on pain meds!

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    Mute Lauren Masterson
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    Apr 26th 2015, 6:36 PM

    I think you may be right…… All the red thumbs.. My ego is hurt as well as my mouth now :(

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    Mute molly coddled
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    Apr 27th 2015, 12:40 AM

    @Lauren, cotton wad soaked in oil of cloves works wonders.

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    Mute molly coddled
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    Apr 27th 2015, 12:44 AM

    *for a dry socket infection.

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    Mute Lauren Masterson
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    Apr 27th 2015, 10:15 AM

    Somebody actually told me the exact same thing yesterday ! I will do that today ! Thank you @Molly

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    Mute Chris
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    Apr 26th 2015, 7:34 PM

    Seems yoy can’t handle the tooth!

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    Mute Michael Vines
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    Apr 26th 2015, 3:35 PM

    She was pulling their teeth, seems that she was pulling their leg as well

    3
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