Historical Figure
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
1971–2019
Leader of the Islamic State from 2013 to 2019
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Biography
Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, commonly known by his nom de guerre Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was an Iraqi militant leader and former teacher who was the founder and first leader of the Islamic State (IS), who proclaimed himself caliph in 2014 and stayed in power until his suicide in an American operation in 2019.
Timeline
The story of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, told in moments.
Born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri in Samarra, Iraq. Studied Islamic theology and reportedly earned a PhD from the Islamic University of Baghdad.
Detained by American forces at Camp Bucca, a prison in southern Iraq. Held for about ten months. Fellow detainees later said he used the time to build a network.
Appeared at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul and declared himself caliph of the Islamic State. It was his first public appearance. ISIS then controlled territory larger than the United Kingdom.
Killed in a U.S. Special Forces raid in Barisha, Syria. He detonated a suicide vest in a dead-end tunnel, also killing two of his children.
In Their Own Words (6)
A bullet fired, stabbing, detonation of an IED in your country, are tantamount to a thousand attacks here [in Syria and Iraq], and don’t neglect [also] the ramming attacks on the roads.
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, 22 August 2018 (date of quote), 2018
You have no alternative, and if you wish to live in honor, then this can be accomplished only by returning to your religion to religion and to jihad against your enemies.
The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, 22 August 2018 (date of quote), 2018
God's enemies from the Jews, Christians, atheists, Shiites, apostates and all of the world's infidels have dedicated their media, money, army and munitions to fight Muslims and jihadists in the State of Nineveh after they witnessed it become one of the bases of Islam and one of its minarets under the Caliphate.
Audio message as quoted in ISIS leader releases rare audio message as Iraqi troops enter Mosul by Euan McKirdy, CNN (November 3 2016)http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/middleeast/al-baghdadi-audio-mosul/, 2016
Islam was never a religion of peace. Islam is the religion of fighting.
As quoted in "Islamic State releases 'al-Baghdadi message'", BBC (14 May 2015)http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32744070, 2015
...By Allah, we will take revenge! By Allah, we will take revenge! Even if it takes a while, we will take revenge, and every amount of harm against the Ummah will be responded to with multitudes more against the perpetrator...
As quoted in Dabiq, issue #12; published November 18, 2015, pg. 2http://www.clarionproject.org/docs/islamic-state-isis-isil-dabiq-magazine-issue-12-just-terror.pdf, 2015
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