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IS leader makes first public appearance

Recording shows a bearded man in a black robe and black turban slowly ascending the pulpit below the IS’s black flag.

Reuters July 06, 2014 Less than a minute read

BAGHDAD: A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant group Islamic State (IS) has made what appears to be his first public appearance at the grand mosque in Mosul, a video recording posted on the Internet revealed on Saturday.

The 21-minute video came after reports on social media that Abu Bakr al Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since ISIL changed its name and declared him ‘caliph’.

The recording shows a bearded man in a black robe and black turban slowly ascending the pulpit below the IS’s black flag. In the video, he is referred to as ‘Caliph Ibrahim, emir of the faithful in the Islamic State’.

It was not immediately possible to confirm the identity of the man in the recording as only one grainy picture of Baghdadi has previously been published. In an audio tape release last week, Baghdadi called on Muslims worldwide to take up arms and flock to the ‘caliphate’ it has declared on captured Syrian and Iraqi soil.

False footage

The Iraqi government has said that a video posted online showing Baghdadi praying in Mosul is false.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2014.