Isis posts 'new Baghdadi tape' in response to reports of leader's death

If the tape is real it will be the first recording of Baghdadi since November 2016

There is hesitation among officials to claim the death of Baghdadi

Isis militants have released an audio recording that purports to be of the group’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In the 46 minute recording, a voice similar to that of the Isis leader discusses the current rhetoric between the US and North Korea.

He also speaks about Isis battles in Mosul in Iraq and in Raqqa and Hama in Syria, and says further bloodshed would not be in vain.

Iraqi forces recaptured Mosul in July, and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters have regained most areas of Raqqa from Isis.

If the tape is real it will be the first such recording of Baghdadi since November 2016. The Isis leader has not been seen in public since July 2014, when he declared the creation of a “caliphate” after the jihadist group overran Mosul.

But the group has been on the backfoot in both Syria and Iraq this year, losing significant amounts of territory including key supply routes.

In the past year, numerous sources have claimed Baghdadi is dead. These include Turkish officials who say they have received persistent reports he is dead, the Russian Defence Ministry, which previously claimed it killed him, and also the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said it had spoken to senior Isis leaders.

However, there has never been confirmation from Isis official news outlet Amaq, which is what most intelligence services are waiting for.

In April, The Independent’s Patrick Cockburn spoke to a senior Kurdish official who said that Isis used 17 suicide car bombs from Mosul to clear a key road in a successful effort to spring Baghdadi from the besieged city.

If he is still alive, it is thought he may be hiding in territory still under Isis’ control, near the Iraqi-Syrian border.

The Independent’s Bethan McKernan has previously written that Baghdadi has been secretive both for security reasons and to add to the cult of personality which surrounds him.

To release footage just to prove he’s still alive would not be in keeping with how he has operated to date.