Al-Furqan Media/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — An audiotape featuring a message purportedly from ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has emerged online, in what would be the leader’s first public comments since the shadowy figure appeared on camera in July.
The message was released by an ISIS-linked media group on Thursday and in it, a man identified as al-Baghdadi references President Obama’s Friday announcement that the U.S. will send 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to advise and support the fight against the terror group there, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadi media.
Al-Baghdadi reportedly says that the weeks of coalition airstrikes against ISIS “have not prevented its advance, nor weakened its resolve.”
The audio also comes days after Iraqi officials said al-Baghdadi had been injured in an airstrike around the same time as Obama’s troop announcement — a claim U.S. officials could not confirm.
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