The many names of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Ali Hashem

Mar 20, 2015

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. There had previously been reports on social media that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since his Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) changed its name to the Islamic S — A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, makes what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the center of Mosul, in a still image taken from a video recording posted on the Internet, July 5, 2014. — REUTERS

عربي

BAGHDAD — Even to those who have hunted him and followed his every move, Islamic State (IS) Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi remains a mystery.

“Before anything I want to understand why he became like this, why an academic would make such a choice and how he feels toward the thousands of people he has killed around the Middle East. Then I’ll make sure he gets punished,” Maj. Bakr (a pseudonym), a member of the elite Iraqi counterterrorist Falcon Brigade unit, said.