IS ‘has too much murky water to fish’, calling for attacks in Europe amid the war in Ukraine

The house where former IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi detonated explosives while being searched on February 3. afp

AFP news agency on April 18 reported the organization Self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) vowed to avenge the former leader, and called on supporters to take advantage of the situation war in Ukraine to attack in Europe.

“We declare a sacred campaign of vengeance,” according to the group’s audio recording circulating on Telegram, referring to the death of former leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.

IS spokesman Abu-Omar al-Muhajjir urged supporters to resume attacks in Europe, taking advantage of the “available opportunity” of the military situation in Ukraine.

On March 10, IS confirmed the death of its leader, Abu Ibrahim, and the group’s spokesman announced the new leader as Abu Al-Hassan Al-hashemi Al-Quraishi.

Abu Ibrahim (45 years old) is a religious scholar and veteran in Iraq under former leader Saddam Hussein. After Hussein’s government was overthrown in 2003, he joined the terrorist organization al-Qaeda.

This character led IS for more than 2 years and was killed during the US special forces operation in Syria on 3.2.

At that time, this IS leader detonated a suicide bomb and killed family members, according to the US government. Former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was also killed in a similar US operation in 2019.

Former ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi in the State Department’s reward announcement afp

During the rise of ISIS, under the leadership of Abu Bakr, the group controlled a large swath of Syria and Iraq. However, after his death in 2019, this organization was pushed back and increasingly narrowed its activities.

However, in recent times, IS fighters are starting to launch attacks again in Iraq and Syria.