If 54-minute recording is verified, it will be the first by the Isis leader in almost a year

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Islamic State has released a new audio recording purportedly of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in what would be the first to feature him in almost a year.

In the audio, Baghdadi – whose whereabouts and fate remain unknown – urges followers to “persevere” and continue fighting the group’s enemies everywhere.

The 54-minute audio message, titled “Give glad tidings to the patient”, was released by the extremist group’s central media arm, al-Furqan Foundation, on Wednesday.



Its authenticity could not be independently verified and there were no obvious clues as to where it was recorded.

The extremist group has lost about 90% of the territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria in 2014, when it declared its “caliphate”.

If alive, Baghdadi is believed to be hiding somewhere in the desert that stretches across the Syrian-Iraqi border region. In his last audio message, released on 28 September 2017, he called on his followers to burn their enemies everywhere and target “media centres of the infidels”.

In the latest recording, Baghdadi congratulates followers on the occasion of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and makes references to current events including Turkey’s row with the US over its detention of the American pastor Andrew Brunson.

If the voice on the audio is confirmed to be that of Baghdadi, it would date the message to this month and disprove reports of his death.

America is going through the worst time in its entire existence Al-Baghdadi

“America is going through the worst time in its entire existence,” Baghdadi says, adding that Russia is competing with the US over regional influence and clout.

He criticises rebels in southern Syria for surrendering to the forces of the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad, calling them traitors, and urges fighters to join Isis instead. He callas for patience, perseverance and continued jihad.

Baghdadi has only appeared in public once, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014. There have been recurring reports of him being killed or injured, including reports by Russian officials last year saying there was a “high probability” he was killed in an airstrike on the outskirts of Raqqa.

US officials later said they believed he was still alive.