IS 'leader' al-Baghdadi appears in first video in five years - BBC News

A man believed to be the leader of the Islamic State militant group has made a rare appearance on camera vowing to seek revenge following the loss of territory.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has not been seen since July 2014, when he proclaimed from Mosul the creation of a "caliphate" across parts of Syria and Iraq.

In this new footage, he acknowledges defeat at Baghuz, the group's last stronghold in the region.

It is not clear when the video, posted on the group's al-Furqan media network, was recorded - IS claims in April.

However, as well as referencing the fall of the Iraqi town of Baghuz, he also speaks about the Easter Sunday Sri Lanka attacks, as well as pledges of allegiance from militants in Burkina Faso and Mali.

Baghdadi - an Iraqi whose real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri - was last heard from in an audio recording last August.

At the time, he appeared to be trying to shift attention away from his group's crippling losses, BBC Middle East correspondent Martin Patience says.

But this latest 18-minute video addresses the losses head on.

"The battle for Baghuz is over," he says, before adding: "There will be more to come after this battle."

According to news agency Reuters, he says the group is fighting a "battle of attrition".

What happened to the 'caliphate'?

At its peak, IS ruled over 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) stretching across the Iraq-Syria border.

But by 2016 it was a group in retreat. The next year, it lost Mosul in Iraq, depriving Baghdadi and his followers of the city where they had declared the caliphate's creation.

In October, they were driven from Raqqa, in Syria.

They continued to lose territory throughout 2018, culminating in the group retreating to Baghuz.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared they had taken control of the town, announcing the end of the five-year "caliphate" in March 2019.

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