Join caliphate: ‘dead’ Baghdadi

Baghdad 

The leader of the Islamic State group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi yesterday urged Muslims to emigrate to his self-proclaimed “caliphate”, in the jihadist supremo’s first audio recording in six months.

“And we call upon every Muslim in every place to perform Hijrah (emigration) to the Islamic State or fight in his land wherever that may be,” he said.

The voice reading the half-hour speech appeared to match previous audio recordings of Baghdadi, the latest of which was released in mid-November.

The audio tape recording released yesterday comes a few days after media reports that he might have been seriously wounded in a strike by the US-led coalition bombing IS in Iraq and Syria.

Echoing his previous exhortations, Baghdadi said, moving to the caliphate he declared over parts of Iraq and Syria in June 2014 or waging jihad (holy war) at home was an obligation.

“There is no excuse for any Muslim who is capable of performing Hijrah to the Islamic State, or capable of carrying a weapon where he is,” he said in the speech, transcripts of which were released in five languages.

“Has the time not come for you to know that there is
no might nor honour nor safety nor rights for you except in the shade of the Caliphate?,” he said, addressing Muslims.

He criticised Sunni civilians fleeing fighting in western province of Anbar to seek shelter in Baghdad and other government-controlled areas.

“So return to your lands, and remain in your homes, and seek shelter -- after first seeking shelter with Allah -- with your people in the Islamic State, for you will find therein, by Allah’s permission, a warm embrace and a safe refuge,” he said.