IS militants renew loyalty to 'leader, caliph' Baghdadi

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Islamic State (IS) militants have re-pledged their allegiance to the extremist group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in statements posted to their social media pages.

The statements are believed to be the first public pledge of loyalty to Baghdadi since the so-called “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq collapsed last year.

“To infuriate and terrorize the infidels, we renew our pledge of loyalty to the commander of the faithful and the caliph of the Muslims, the mujahid sheikh Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al Hussaini al-Quraishi may God preserve him,” the militants said in a statement posted to their social media accounts.

Despite their military defeat in Iraq and Syria, the extremist group continues to carry out various guerrilla-style attacks including random bombings, ambushes, assassinations, and kidnappings—reminiscent of IS’ old tactics following their emergence in mid-2014.

Since declaring a “caliphate” in Iraq’s Mosul in 2014, the whereabouts of Baghdadi has been unknown with conflicting reports in recent years suggesting the IS leader was killed.

Airstrikes by the US-led coalition, however, have killed most of Baghdadi’s senior lieutenants, including IS’ “war minister” Abu Omar al-Shishani, “governor of the Iraqi region” Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, group spokesperson Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, and “governor for Syria” Abu Ali al-Anbari.

Meanwhile, Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on terrorism and extremism, told Reuters the recent statement by IS militants was “the first known pledge of loyalty” to Baghdadi since Iraqi forces, with the help of Kurdish Peshmerga and coalition airstrikes, recaptured Mosul, and Kurdish-led troops liberated Raqqa in Syria.

Hashimi added that the extremist group’s leader could still be alive and might be hiding in the vast desert area along the Syrian-Iraqi border.