More than two months after the death of its previous leader, the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) promised Sunday to “to avenge” Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashimi Al-Qurachi.
“We announce, relying on God, a blessed campaign for revenge” of the death of the IS leader, Abu Omar Al-Muhajir, the group’s spokesman, said in an audio statement broadcast Sunday April 17 on Telegram attributed to them.
IS also called on its supporters to resume their attacks in Europe by seizing “opportunity” of “battle between crusaders”referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On February 3, US President Joe Biden announced the death of Abu Ibrahim Al-Hachimi Al-Qurachi, who blew himself up during an operation by US special forces in northwestern Syria, region under the control of jihadists. His death, along with that of the group’s former spokesperson, was confirmed by IS on March 10.
Ever-present threat
Abou Hassan Al-Hachimi Al-Qourachi, new leader of the radical Sunni organization, the third of the group since its creation, has so far made little headlines. After a meteoric rise in power in 2014 in Iraq and neighboring Syria and the conquest of vast territories, IS has seen its “caliphate” self-proclaimed to be overthrown under the blow of successive offensives in these two countries, respectively in 2017 and 2019.
But the Islamic State “maintains a largely clandestine presence in Iraq and Syria and leads a sustained insurgency on both sides of the border between the two countries”, according to a UN report published last year. In these two countries, the jihadist organization retains “in all 10,000 active fighters”according to the same source.
IS has also claimed responsibility for attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and affiliated jihadist groups also operate in Africa.