ISIS Leader Calls for 'Volcanoes of Jihad'

US hasn't yet verified recording purportedly by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 13, 2014 6:13 PM CST
ISIS Leader Calls for 'Volcanoes of Jihad'
This file image made from video posted on a militant website July 5, 2014, shows Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.   (AP Photo/Militant video, File)

A newly released audiotape suggests that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is OK after recent reports that he'd been injured in a US airstrike. In the 17-minute recording posted on a jihadi website, a man purported to be al-Baghdadi urges his followers to “erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere" and to "light the earth with fire under all the tyrants and their soldiers and supporters," reports the Guardian. The State Department says it hasn't yet verified the tape's authenticity, reports ABC News, but various media accounts say it sounds very much like al-Baghdadi.

One of those outlets is Reuters, which reports that the speaker in the new tape calls specifically for attacks against Saudi Arabia's rulers. He singles out the nation as the "head of the snake and stronghold of disease" and urges people to "draw their swords." The message makes reference to President Obama's announcement of more troops for Iraq, adding that US airstrikes against the Islamic State “have not prevented its advance, nor weakened its resolve.” (It doesn't, however, mention Red Bull.)

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