Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

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Document: NYC Suspect Explained Why He Picked 10/31

Sayfullo Saipov allegedly settled on using a truck two months ago

(Newser) - After planning for a year, Sayfullo Saipov allegedly chose Halloween to drive a rented Home Depot truck into pedestrians in New York City because he believed there'd be more targets outside, making his goal of killing as many people as possible more attainable, reports the Washington Post , which cites...

Leader of Islamic State Breaks 10-Month Silence

Audio released by IS said to be leader Baghdadi

(Newser) - Three months after Russian officials said there was a "high probability" Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi had been killed in an airstrike, an Islamic State media outlet released an apparent audio recording of the IS leader, the AP reports. It's the first alleged recording of Baghdadi released since last November....

ISIS Blows Up Iconic Mosque in 'Admission of Defeat'

The Grand al-Nuri Mosque was more than 800 years old

(Newser) - In what American commanders called a crime against the people of Iraq and the country's prime minister called an admission of defeat, officials say ISIS fighters blew up Mosul's most iconic mosque Wednesday night as government troops closed in. The Grand al-Nuri Mosque, more than 800 years old,...

Russia Suspects It Killed ISIS Leader Weeks Ago

Ministry says airstrike killed 30 commanders

(Newser) - The Islamic State might have been without a leader for more than two weeks, according to Russia's defense ministry. The ministry announced Friday that it suspects ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a May 28 airstrike near Raqqa, Syria, the BBC reports. After drones confirmed that ISIS...

US Offers $25M Bounty for ISIS Leader

Al-Baghdadi is thought to be holed up in Mosul

(Newser) - The US doesn't want Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be another one that got away. The State Department has more than doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of the ISIS leader, who is rumored to be in Mosul or in ISIS-held territory west of the Iraqi city,...

ISIS Leader Releases Message Amid Battle for Mosul

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi encourages loyalists to fight to the death

(Newser) - ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has released a rare message amid a major coalition offensive against Mosul, the last major ISIS stronghold in Iraq. The undated audio recording is al-Baghdadi's first public communication in almost a year, the International Business Times reports. The tape didn't specifically mention the...

Fellow ISIS Captives Amazed by Kayla Mueller's Strength

Chilling 'proof of life' video surfaces

(Newser) - Fresh details of Kayla Mueller's days as an ISIS captive are revealed in an ABC 20/20 report airing Friday night, and they highlight both the horror of her circumstances and her amazing strength. Four former hostages, including three women who shared a cell with the young American in 2014,...

'Too Busy' Muslims Mock ISIS Call to Arms

They'd rather watch 'Star Wars'

(Newser) - ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on the world's Muslims to join the fight in a message released on Saturday —but it turns out that the world's Muslims have better things to do. After human rights activist Iyad El-Baghdadi tweeted a translation of the ISIS call to...

Shooter's Dad: He Was 'Obsessed With Israel'

FBI seems more interested in Farook's mother

(Newser) - Syed Rizwan Farook supported ISIS and was obsessed with Israel, his father told Italian newspaper La Stampa in a frank interview that has apparently now been retracted. The elder Farook said his son had been a good, studious boy, but too shy and conservative in his views, and fixated on...

ISIS Leader Raped American Hostage
ISIS Leader Raped
American Hostage
Aug 14, 2015 3:32 PM CDT

ISIS Leader Raped American Hostage

Parents of late Kayla Mueller say she was tortured

(Newser) - Awful reports are emerging today about the late American hostage Kayla Mueller on what would have been her 27th birthday. The Independent reports that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raped her multiple times while she was in captivity. The story is based on the account of a teenage Yazidi...

Report: ISIS Leader So Hurt, He's Not Running Things

But the Pentagon isn't so sure

(Newser) - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is in rough shape after a March 18 airstrike near the Syrian border in western Iraq, sources tell the Guardian , but there are conflicting reports on the matter. The leader of ISIS initially faced life-threatening injuries as a result of the strike by the US-led coalition but...

ISIS Leader's Wife Held in Lebanon

Along with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's son or daughter: reports

(Newser) - The wife and a son or daughter of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are being held in Lebanon, according to reports. Anonymous Lebanese officials tell the AP that the woman and her son have been in detention for about 10 days. They identify the woman as a Syrian citizen. Sources...

ISIS Leader Calls for 'Volcanoes of Jihad'

US hasn't yet verified recording purportedly by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

(Newser) - 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"...

Airstrikes Likely Hit ISIS Bosses: Officials

Unclear whether top figure was among them

(Newser) - US airstrikes have hit a convoy of trucks which, officials believe, were carrying some ISIS leaders, US officials tell the AP . Rumors have suggested that the group's top figure, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, may have been among the leaders, the New York Times reports; neither Iraqi nor US officials could...

US Hostage's Mom Tries to Reach ISIS via Twitter

'How can we reach you?' mother of Abdul-Rahman Kassig asks militants

(Newser) - Abdul-Rahman Kassig's family has already released a letter from him in which he said he was "scared to die" and posted a series of YouTube videos begging for his freedom from his ISIS captors. Now mom Paula Kassig has taken to Twitter to directly address "Caliph Abu...

Fort Hood Shooter Asks to Join ISIS
Fort Hood Shooter
Asks to Join ISIS
Aug 29, 2014 12:17 AM CDT

Fort Hood Shooter Asks to Join ISIS

'It would be an honor,' Hasan writes to militant leader

(Newser) - Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan has no chance of leaving military custody alive—but he'd really like to be in Iraq or Syria, where he admires what ISIS is doing. Hasan's lawyer says his client, on death row at Fort Leavenworth, has written to the leader of the...

Mother of US Hostage Pleads to Leader of ISIS

'Please release my child,' says Shirley Sotloff

(Newser) - Shirley Sotloff isn't relying on intermediaries to appeal for her son's release from ISIS—she released a video today appealing directly to the group's leader, reports the New York Times . “You, the caliph, can grant amnesty," Sotloff says after addressing her message to Islamic State...

ISIS Leader Video Is a Fake: Iraq

New Islamic State leader seen flashing fancy watch

(Newser) - Iraq is knocking down claims that a video purporting to show Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is even the elusive ISIS leader at all. "We have analyzed the footage ... and found it is a farce," an Interior Ministry spokesman tells Reuters . He claims al-Baghdadi—who has declared himself Caliph Ibrahim...

New Islamic State Leader Issues First Video

Asks Muslims to obey him, advise him

(Newser) - The leader of the group trying to overrun Iraq and Syria in order to form a new Islamic state has made what is believed to be his first public appearance. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi released a video of a sermon he delivered at a mosque in Mosul amid reports that he...

'Islamic State' Leader: Next We Take Rome

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi calls on Muslims worldwide to join the fight

(Newser) - A self-proclaimed "caliph" of the Middle East is urging Muslims worldwide to join the fight in Iraq and one day conquer the world, "if Allah wills." Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the newly named Islamic State (formerly ISIS) that has grabbed swaths of northern Iraq, issued his...

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