IS releases purported audio message from top leader

28 September 2017, 7:34 pm

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The Islamic State group releases what it says is a new audio recording of its top leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, indicating he may still be alive.

The recording is released by the IS-run al-Furqan outlet Thursday and the voice sounds like previous recordings of the reclusive leader, who has only appeared in public once. The last purported audio message from al-Baghdadi was released in November.

Russian officials said in June there was a “high probability” that al-Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group. But US officials later said they believed he was still alive.

IS has suffered a number of major setbacks in Iraq and Syria in recent months.

— AP