Rabat – A new spokesperson for ISIS made an audio recording on Thursday, October 31, to name the terrorist network’s new leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
Little is known about al-Qurashi. The name is likely not his given name, just as the founder and leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, went by his nomme de guerre. Al-Baghdadi’s real name was Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri.
ISIS described al-Qurashi as a “religious scholar.” The group’s shura council, which governs ISIS, selected Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi as their new “caliph.”
The name “al-Qurashi” indicates that the new leader claims a lineage from the tribe of the prophet Muhammad.
ISIS’s media arm al-Furqan posted the audio clip, which contained a warning for the world. “Do you not realize that the [Islamic] State today is not only on the doorstep of Europe and in the center of Africa, it is staying and expanding from the east to the west.”
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ISIS already has a presence in Libya, and the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram has also given its allegiance to the caliphate.
After the announcement, affiliated terrorist groups pledged their allegiance to al-Qurashi.
The audio clip was just seven minutes long and called on fighters to free ISIS prisoners and recruit more jihadis.
The spokesperson, Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi, also confirmed the death of al-Baghdadi. “America, do not be happy with the killing of Sheikh al-Baghdadi.”
US special forces raided a property where al-Baghdadi was living in northern Syria, near Idlib, early Sunday morning, October 27. During the raid, al-Baghdadi crawled into a tunnel and detonated a bomb, killing himself and two children.
