AT Monitoring Desk
KABUL: Days after the Islamic State’s (IS), also known as Dash extemrist group, leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and his heir apparent were killed in a raid by US forces in northern Syria, the group broke its silence to confirm their deaths, announce a new leader and warn America: “Do not be happy,” according to a media report
The militant group named Abu Ibrahim Hashimi al-Quraishi as al-Baghdadi’s replacement in a message posted by its official media wing, the Flashpoint said.
It was the first time IS had acknowledged the death of al-Baghdadi as well as that of another senior figure named Abu Hassan al-Muhajir. President Donald Trump had identified al-Muhajir as al-Baghdadi’s “number one replacement.”
While al-Baghdadi’s death constitutes a significant blow to the militant group, experts have warned that it will not necessarily spell an end to the violent extremists trying to reconstitute their caliphate.