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IS leader outlines path forward for his group post-caliphate

Associated Press
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FILE - This file image made from video posted on a militant website Monday, April 29, 2019, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, being interviewed by his group's Al-Furqan media outlet. No longer burdened by territory and administration, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi outlined the new path forward for his group: Widen your reach, connect with far-flung militant groups and exhaust your enemies with a “war of attrition.” (Al-Furqan media via AP, File)

FILE - In this April 22, 2019 file photo, mourners grieve at the burial of three members of the same family victims of an Easter Sunday bomb blast at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. In a video released on April 29, the Islamic State group's leader extolled militants in Sri Lanka for “striking the homes of the crusaders in their Easter, in vengeance for their brothers in Baghouz,” a reference to IS’ last bastion in eastern Syria, which was captured by U.S.-backed fighters in March. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

No longer burdened by territory and administration, Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi outlined the new path forward for his group: Widen your reach, connect with far-flung militant groups and exhaust your enemies with a "war of attrition."

The deadly Easter attacks in Sri Lanka a week before his video appearance underscored this message in blood. It also highlighted the ease with which IS can inflict chaos through a loosely defined brand of global jihad in the most chilling way. That's even after losing the relative safety of its so-called caliphate across stretches of Iraq and Syria.

For years, the group's leaders huddled in IS-held cities to plot attacks abroad. Now mass casualty assaults may be planned much closer to local militants' homes, like the attack in Sri Lanka.