ISIS leader al-Baghdadi appears in video, first time in 5 years—speaks about Sri Lanka attacks

The fugitive Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has appeared in a propaganda video for the first time in five years. Al-Baghdadi's video comes weeks after ISIS lost all its territory, after being defeated in Baghuz, Syria.

This is only his second video, the first one being declaring caliphate in 2014. Reportedly, people claim that though the group has lost its territories, it is not dead and gone and the video only proves it. But al-Baghdadi's whereabouts have remained a mystery. And the video gives no clue.

It shows him seated on a carpeted floor, with matching cushions, and an automatic rifle propped up against the wall. He is wearing a black tunic and a black cloth over his head.

With the video, he has shown that he is out there alive and he might have tried to inspire others and inform that it is not done yet. He says the attacks in Sri Lanka, which the ISIS claimed three day after they took place, were carried out in revenge for the defeat inflicted on ISIS in Baghuz, their last stronghold in Syria.

The man said to be Baghdadi insisted ISIS operations against the West were part of a “long battle,” and that ISIS would continue to “take revenge” for members who had been killed. “There will be more to come after this battle,” he said, according to The Defense Post.

The New York Times reported that the video might have been recorded before Sri Lanka attacks as that portion was only an audio. The United States has a $25-million bounty on his head.