IS leader Al-Baghdadi appears in first video in five years

Islamic State’s media network on Monday published a threatening video message purporting to come from its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in what would be his first appearance since declaring the jihadists’ now-defunct “caliphate” five years ago.

He has not been seen since 2014, when he proclaimed from Mosul the creation of a "caliphate" across parts of Syria and Iraq.

In this new footage, Baghdadi acknowledges defeat at Baghuz, the group's last stronghold in the region.

It is not clear when the video was recorded. IS says it was shot in April.

The footage was posted on the militant group's al-Furqan media network.

A US State Department spokesman said the tapes would be inspected by analysts to ascertain their authenticity, adding that the US-led coalition remains committed to ensuring any IS "leaders who remain are delivered the justice that they deserve".

Baghdadi says that he has had pledges of allegiance from militants in Burkina Faso and Mali, and talks about the protests in Sudan and Algeria - saying jihad is the only solution to "tyrants". Both countries have seen their long-term rulers overthrown this month.

Baghdadi says the Sri Lanka attacks were carried out as revenge for the fall of the Syrian town of Baghuz.

At its peak, IS ruled over 88,000 sq km (34,000 sq miles) stretching across the Iraq-Syria border.

Militants carried out widespread and systematic attacks that the UN has said may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The atrocities included massacres of troops and civilians, and the abduction and sexual enslavement of thousands of women and girls from Iraq's Yazidi religious minority.

But by 2016 IS was in retreat. The next year, it lost Mosul in Iraq, depriving Baghdadi and his followers of the city where they had declared the caliphate's creation.

In October 2017, they were driven from the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the caliphate.

They continued to lose territory throughout 2018, culminating in the group retreating to Baghuz.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared they had taken control of the town, announcing the end of the "caliphate" in March 2019.