WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st May, 2019) The Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia) and its global network of affiliates remains a threat regardless of leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi's fate, US Counterterrorism Coordinator Nathan Sales said.
"Whether Baghdadi retains operational control of [Islamic State] or whether he is merely a figurehead the fact remains that the organization and its global network remains a threat," Sales said Tuesday a Brookings Institution event in Washington.
The US intelligence community is currently working to authenticate a video released on Monday, in which Baghdadi appears for the first time in five years.
Baghdadi's death has been reported numerous times in recent years, but the terrorist leader has re-emerged each time.
In June 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Baghdadi could have been killed as a result of a strike by the Russian Aerospace Forces on May 28, 2017 in the southern suburbs of Raqqa. But in September 2017, an alleged audio recording of Baghdadi emerged, casting fresh doubt on whether the terrorist leader was dead or alive.
