A spokesperson of terror group Islamic State on Monday (18 March) called on the followers of the group to “violently” retaliate against non-believers (kafirs) in response to the mass murder of 50 people at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch last week, The New York Times reported.

Breaking a six-month silence, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir said in a 44-minute audio recording that, “The scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion.”

Al-Muhajir, who uses a pseudonym and whose true identity is yet to ascertained, also lampooned the claims of the Trump administration that ISIS has been decisively decimated in Syria, saying that the administration had created a “state of confusion and contradiction that make it impossible for any observer to know what is meant by the word ‘victory.’”

Al-Muhajir described the Christchurch shootings as an extension of the campaign against the Islamic State. He likened the mosque attacks to the weekslong battle raging in the last village under ISIS control in Syria.

US-backed Syrian forces have been maintaining that they are very close to a victory over ISIS in its final bit of territory at Baghouz in eastern Syria.

Al- Muhajir, who is reportedly on the run and avoids using phones, however, appears to to be abreast of the current events that include Trump’s visit to Iraq in December.

“How strange for a victor who can’t even announce publicly an official visit to a country he claims to be bringing peace and stability to. He could only come like a frightened and cowardly thief,” he said.

Al-Muhajir also claimed during his video message that ISIS’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, previously rumored dead, is alive.