Is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi still alive? ISIS chief's new audio message sparks speculation
Baghdadi's message comes at a time when the ISIS has lost majority of its holding area in Syria and Iraq.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the elusive chief of ISIS, who was reportedly killed earlier in June was heard talking about North Korea in a new audio message on Thursday.
The 46-minute-long undated audio message has sparked the speculation that the ISIS chief might be still alive.
In the audio message, Baghadi talked about North Korea's threat to Japan and the US.
Thursday's message comes almost a year after the last message that was made public in November, 2016.
In June, Russian defence officls had said that there was a "high probability" that Baghdadi died in a Russian airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa.
The ISIS chief is very secretive about his whereabouts and it is said that his followers used to call him 'invisible sheikh'.
Believed to be born in Iraq in 1971, Baghdadi is leading the most dreaded terror group in the world.
The highly-organised strategist has made the group capture large parts of Iraq and Syria. He most public appearance was when he announced the 'caliphate' from a mosque in Mosul in July, 2014.
(With agency inputs)