ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has appeared in a new video for the first time in nearly five years, vowing to get revenge for his dead militants and claiming the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka were in retaliation for his group's defeat in Syria.

The leader of the Islamist group gave his last sermon at the Great Mosque in Mosul, Iraq, in July 2014.

He has not appeared in a video since announcing the creation of the so-called caliphate from the pulpit of the Al-Nuri mosque nearly five years ago in a clip played around the world.

In the 40-second video Baghdadi vowed his militants would get revenge on the West for the group's defeat in Iraq and Syria and claimed the Sri Lankan Easter bombings were part of their 'battle of attrition'.

The elusive chief appeared for the first time in the propaganda video released today by the jihadist organisation.

It showed the haggard militant, looking gaunt with a greying beard that appeared dyed with henna speaking slowly, often pausing for several seconds in the middle of his sentences, in stark contrast to his black facial hair and confident delivery in 2014.

The 47-year-old recluse sat cross-legged in a black robe with a Kalashnikov rifle resting against the wall near his right arm.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi seen in a new video for the first time since 2014 when he announced the existence of ISIS at the Great Mosque in Mosul, Iraq

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq during his first public appearance on July 5, 2014, where he announced the so-called caliphate

The Iraqi militant, who suffers from diabetes, has been rumoured to have been wounded or killed several times in the past.

But his whereabouts have never been confirmed and a $25million bounty remains for his scalp.

It is unclear when the footage was filmed, but Baghdadi referred in the past tense to the months-long fight for Baghouz, IS's final bastion in eastern Syria, which ended last month.

Written script at the start of the video dates it to earlier in April, but the authenticity and exact date of the recording has not yet been independently verified.

He said in his 40-second address titled 'In the Hospitality of the Emir of the Believers', while sitting on a cushion and speaking to three men whose faces have been blurred: 'The battle for Baghouz is over.'

But Baghdadi then added, 'there will be more to come after this battle', saying his group is fighting a 'battle of attrition'.

He blamed the fall of his 'caliphate' on the 'savagery' of Christians towards Muslims and that the battle of Baghouz demonstrated the 'barbarism and brutality' of the West and the 'courage, steadfastness and resilience of the nation of Islam'.

ISIS leader al-Baghdadi could be seen reading from a piece of paper as declared that 'the battle for Baghouz is over' and that the group was waging a 'battle of attrition'

Al-Baghdadi also vowed to take revenge for his dead militants killed as US-backed forces retook territory in Iraq and Syria seized by the Islamist group since 2014

Baghdadi sat cross-legged on a cushion in the clip as he addressed three men whose faces have been blurred (pictured)

Baghdadi said: 'Truthfully, the battle of Islam and its people against the cross and its people is a long battle.

'The battle of Baghouz is over. But it did show the savagery, brutality and ill intentions of the Christians towards the Muslim community.'

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 1971: Born in Iraq, believed to be in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad 2003: US invades Iraq. Baghdadi is believed to be working as a cleric at a mosque in Samarra 2004-2008: Baghdadi, then known as Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badry, was held at the Camp Bucca detention centre by the US, accused of being an al-Qaeda leader. Experts dispute whether he was affiliated with the organisation before he was detained, or became radicalised in prison 2010: Baghdadi becomes leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, after the former leader blows himself up when cornered by US forces 2011: The US official designated Baghdadi a terrorist and puts a $10million bounty on his head 2013: Under Baghdadi's leadership ISI, as it was then known, merges with the Syrian terror group al-Nusra and becomes ISIS 2014: After seizing a vast swathe of territory across Iraq and Syria in a sudden uprising, Baghdadi makes a speech at the al-Nuri mosque in Mosul declaring a Caliphate and rebrands ISIS as Islamic State. This marks the last time was seen in public 2016: Baghdadi released an audio recording as the battle for Mosul starts in November, urging his follower to kill 'unbelievers' threatening the city 2017: Russia claims to have killed Baghdadi in an airstrike on Raqqa, but fails to provide proof 2018: Voice recording released of Baghdadi reportedly addressing his followers as ISIS is pushed out of Syria and Iraq by US-backed forces 2019: Only his second ever video appearance released, praising the Sri Lankan Easter bombings and vowing revenge for ISIS' defeat Advertisement

In the clip he also said the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka which killed more than 250 people and wounded over 500 for which the group claimed responsibility were in retaliation for ISIS' defeat in eastern Syria.

In a segment in which the man is not on camera, his voice referred to the April 21 Easter attacks as 'vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz'.

Baghdadi said: 'There will be more to come after this battle. In fact, the battle of Islam and its people against the Crusaders and their followers is a long battle. This steadfastness shocked the hearts of the Crusaders in what increased their rage.'

An image from the new footage published by ISIS media wing al-Furqan on Telegram was shared today by SITE Intel Group - an US company that tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organisations.

Rita Katz, executive director and founder of SITE, said the video demonstrates that ISIS remains a 'serious danger'.

She wrote in a tweet today: 'There is serious danger not only to the fact that Baghdadi, #ISIS' so-called Caliph, is still alive - but also that he is able to reemerge to his supporters and reaffirm the group's us-vs-the-world message after all the progress made against the group.'

As ISIS was driven out of its remaining stronghold last month the whereabouts of its leaders, including Baghdadi, remained unclear.

Syrian Democratic Forces declared a 'total elimination' of the jihadist group in March after flushing out suicidal jihadists from the holdout in Baghouz, eastern Syria.

Those who had not been killed or captured in Iraq and Syria as US-backed forces recaptured the militants' territory dispersed to their countries of origin.

During the terrorist group's bloody last stand male and female fanatics hid in caves as a barrage of air strikes rained down on their positions.

But the world's most wanted man - Baghdadi, who declared himself the tyrant of the regime in 2014 - was reportedly not among those holed up in the caves.

Nicknamed 'The Ghost', he has not appeared in public since he delivered a sermon at Mosul's famed Al-Nuri mosque in 2014 declaring himself 'caliph'.

A recording thought to be of Baghdadi's voice surfaced last August addressing his followers. He is pictured in 2014 at the Great Mosque in Mosul

His last voice recording to his supporters was released last August, eight months after Iraq announced it had defeated IS and as US-backed forces closed in next door in Syria.

But as the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces pressed the 'final battle' against IS's last sliver of territory, a spokesman for the US-backed group said the elusive leader was likely not there.

The United States vowed it would track down and defeat surviving leaders of the Islamic State after the video came to light.

A State Department spokesman said the US-led coalition against the group will fight across the world to 'ensure an enduring defeat of these terrorists and that any leaders who remain are delivered the justice that they deserve'.

US government analysts 'will review this recording and we will defer to the intelligence community to confirm its authenticity,' the State Department spokesman added.

He added: 'ISIS' territorial defeat in Iraq and Syria was a crushing strategic and psychological blow as ISIS saw its so-called caliphate crumble, its leaders killed or flee the battlefield, and its savagery exposed.'

A video released after the Sri Lankan bombings, saw the group claiming responsibility pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

An ISIS banner being held up by Sri Lankan security personnel following a raid on suspected terrorists in the Samanthurai area on Friday evening

Last month it was reported that Baghdadi 'only has three companions' - his older brother Jumaa, his driver and bodyguard Abdullatif al-Jubury, whom he has known since childhood, and his courier Saud al-Kurdi.

It was thought he was laying low somewhere in Syria's vast Badia desert, which stretches from the eastern border with Iraq to the sweeping province of Homs.

That is where his son Hudhayfa al-Badri was reportedly killed in July by three Russian guided missiles.

Keeping a low profile - in contrast to slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden - has helped Baghdadi survive for years.

Born Ibrahim Awad al-Badri in 1971, the passionate football fan came from modest beginnings in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

His school results prevented him studying law and his poor eyesight stopped him joining the army, so he moved to the Baghdad district of Tobchi to study Islam.

After US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, he founded his own insurgent organisation but never carried out major attacks.

Smoke rising from the final stronghold of ISIS in Baghouz, eastern Syria, as US-backed forces pushed ISIS from their last remaining stronghold

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces stand in front of their flag in Baghouz, Syria, after eliminating the jihadist group in the area

When he was arrested and held in a US detention facility in southern Iraq in February 2004, he was still very much a lower tier jihadist.

But it was Camp Bucca - later dubbed 'the University of Jihad' - where Baghdadi came of age as a jihadist.

He was released at the end of 2004 for lack of evidence. Iraqi security services arrested him twice subsequently, in 2007 and 2012, but let him go because they did not know who he was.

In 2005, the father-of-five from two different wives pledged allegiance to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the brutal leader of Iraq's Al-Qaeda franchise.

Zarqawi was killed by an American drone strike in 2006, and after his successor was also eliminated, Baghdadi took the helm in 2010.

He revived the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), expanded into Syria in 2013 and declared independence from Al-Qaeda.

In the following years, Baghdadi's Islamic State group captured swathes of territory, set up a brutal system of government, and inspired thousands to join the 'caliphate' from abroad.

Baghdadi was raised in a family divided between a religious clan and officers loyal to Saddam's secular Baath party.

A still from a video released by the Free Burma Rangers in March showing people moving between tents in a makeshift camp in the last ISIS-controlled piece of territory between the advancing Syrian Democratic Forces and the Euphrates River

Years later, his jihadist group incorporated ex-Baathists, capitalising on the bitterness many officers felt after the American move to dissolve the Iraqi army in 2003.

He is thought to have had three wives in total, Iraqi Asma al-Kubaysi, Syrian Isra al-Qaysi and another, more recently, from the Gulf.

The terrorist has been accused of repeatedly raping girls and women he kept as 'sex slaves', including a pre-teen Yazidi girl and US aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was subsequently killed.

Baghdadi is among the few senior IS commanders still at large after two years of steady battlefield losses that saw the self-styled 'caliphate' shrink from an area the size of Britain to a tiny speck in the Euphrates River valley.

Although largely seen as a symbolic figurehead of the global terror network - he was described as 'irrelevant for a long time' by a coalition spokesman in 2017.

Since their defeat and the loss of more than 20,000 fighters as a result of US, French and Russian airstrikes, ISIS leaders have pledged to bring terrorism to the streets of their enemies.