Iraq is working to verify whether speaker is extremist leader
baghdad » Iraq security agencies are working to verify the authenticity of a video that purportedly shows the elusive leader of the Sunni extremist group that has declared an Islamic state in a large chunk of territory it controls leading prayers thisweek in northern Iraq, authorities said.
The video said to show Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State group, was reportedly filmed Friday at the Great Mosque in Iraq’s secondlargest city, Mosul.
It was posted on at least two websites known to be used by the organization and bore the logo of its media arm.
The sermon in Mosul would the first public appearance for al-Baghdadi, a shadowy figure who has emerged as perhaps the pre-eminent figure in the international jihadi community.
Al-Baghdadi, who has a $10 millionU.S. bounty on his head, took over the group four years ago.
He has since transformed it from an al-Qaeda affiliate focused on Iraq into an independent transnational force that controls of a huge stretch of land straddling the Syr- ia-Iraq border.
Iraqi military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim alMoussawi told reporters Sunday the country’s security services are analyzing the 21-minute video to verify whether the speaker is al-Baghdadi.
Al-Moussawi said
the government will “announce the details once they are available.”
The government carried out at least three airstrikes Sunday in Mosul, residents said.
Itwas not clearwhether the raids were related to the video.