After it was announced that the United States military had killed the founder and leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, its supporters issued a statement that essentially equated to shrugging off their leader’s death.
According to the Washington Examiner, Middle East Media Research Institute, a terrorism monitoring group, found the statement on various social media outlets where the terrorist group was free to post. In it, ISIS noted that their ideology and quest doesn’t come at the behest of one man, but a creed shared by many:
“Even if it is true, this is the main reason all of the jihad fighters set out for — martyrdom. The Messenger of Allah, may the blessing of Allah be upon him — died,” said a prominent media operative in the pro-ISIS online community. “The jihad will not stop when a certain person dies, even if he was the caliph himself.”
“Al-Baghdadi although influential is but one person, the term Caliphate that ISIS promotes is not a temporary idea whereby if one person dies the whole term or ideology ends,” said another posting on a pro-ISIS Telegram channel. “Al-Baghdadi is not the first Jihadi leader to be killed if the news is verified, before him influential figures such as Bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi, Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, Al-Muhajir, Al-Adnani, Al-Shishani were all killed, it didn’t stop anything neither it changed the situation in the ground.”
“What the impure Crusaders do not understand with regard to the Muslims’ creed, especially that of the jihad fighters, is that jihad in its entirety is not founded on men, but on creed,” said another post. “The Islamic State shall remain, it shall disturb the lives of the infidels and punish the apostates.
Aside from the announcement that al-Baghdadi was killed by detonating an explosive vest as U.S. troops moved in, President Donald Trump had a message for ISIS of his own, namely in telling them how their leader died.
“He died like a dog, he died like a coward. He was whimpering, screaming and crying,” Trump said. “And frankly, I think it’s something that should be brought out, so that his followers and all of these young kids that want to leave various countries, including the United States, they should see how he died.”
Trump told the press that he and his staff are considering releasing the video of the raid against the ISIS leader, and perhaps we can see this for ourselves this weekend.
(READ: Trump: “We’re Thinking About” Releasing Video Of Raid On Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Over The Weekend)
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