IS Chief Baghdadi releases audio message urging followers to wage 'Jihad'

The purported recording of Baghdadi is the first to come up, after a period of 11 months.

Baghdadi, who has reportedly been wounded multiple times, carries a USD 25 million bounty on his head./ File Image / AP Photo.

New Delhi: The international terror outfit Islamic State has released a purported audio of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In the Telegram message on Eid al-Adha, Baghdadi has reportedly called for attacks in the West. The audio has posed fresh questions over Baghdadi’s existence. It still remains a mystery that after several claims of his death, is he alive even now. The purported recording of Baghdadi is the first to come up, after a period of 11 months. It was in September last year when a recording of the IS leader had surfaced. In the audio recording, the leader of the outfit has called on supporters to wage “jihad”. As per a report in AFP, Baghdadi has said that those who forget their religion, patience, Jihad against their enemies and their certainty in the creator’s promise are bound to lose and are disgraced, but when they hold on to it, they are mighty and victorious, eventually. IS had gained control over large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, proclaiming a “caliphate”. However, they have since lost most of the area to various offensives in both countries. In the audio, addressing his followers in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Baghdadi can be heard saying that the “caliphate will remain, God willing,” AFP reported. The message was apparently recorded recently as he appeared to criticise a USD 100-million pledge by Saudi Arabia last week to build Syria’s northeast. He also threatened Russia and the US who backed the offensive against IS. The IS chief had made his only known public presence in Iraq’s Mosul in 2014. Since then he has been claimed to be dead on several occasions. However as per reports, Iraqi intelligence officials said that he was alive in the Syrian territory by Iraq’s border. A 25 million reward is being offered by the US for the capture of Baghdadi.