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No longer burdened by territory and administration, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi outlined the new path forward for his group: Widen your reach, connect with far-flung militant groups and exhaust your enemies with a "war of attrition."

The deadly Easter attacks in Sri Lanka a week before his video appearance underscored this message in blood. It also highlighted the ease with which IS can inflict chaos through a loosely defined brand of global jihad in the most chilling way. That's even after losing the relative safety of its so-called caliphate across stretches of Iraq and Syria.

For years, the group's leaders huddled in IS-held cities to plot attacks abroad. Now mass casualty assaults may be planned much closer to local militants' homes, like the attack in Sri Lanka.