Photo: The propaganda video allegedly shows Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi identifying himself as Caliph Ibrahim, the leader of the Islamic State jihadist group previously known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). (Photo: AFP/HO/al-Furqan Media)
Related Story: Iraqi PM rejects pressure to step down as crisis continues
Related Story: ISIS leader urges Muslims worldwide to embrace jihad
A man claiming to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video released on social media.
The video surfaced after social media reports that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since his jihadist group ISIS changed its name to the Islamic State and declared a caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria.
However, the Iraqi government denied the authenticity of the 21-minute video, which carried Friday's date.
"We have analysed the footage ... and found it is a farce," interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan told Reuters.
Reports of Baghdadi's death or injury had been circulating prior to the video's release.
Who is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
Read more on the rising star of global jihad, the commanding leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.If Baghdadi did preach in Mosul on Friday, it would be the first public appearance by the head of the militant group, which led a military offensive last month that saw swathes of northern Iraq fall to ISIS and other Sunni armed factions.
The campaign started on June 10 in Mosul, the North's biggest city, which was quickly taken by ISIS.
The video showed a bearded man in a black robe and black turban slowly ascending the pulpit below the black flag of the Islamic State, before delivering a sermon and leading prayers.
The recording called him "Caliph Ibrahim, emir of the faithful in the Islamic State, may God protect him".
It was not immediately possible to confirm the identity of the man in the recording as only two photographs of Baghdadi have previously been published.
It was also not immediately possible to confirm the authenticity of the video or the date it was made.
Video calls for all Muslims to obey Baghdadi
"God has granted your brothers, the Mujahideen, victory and a conquest after years of patience and holy struggle, and enabled them to achieve their objective," the man purported to be Baghdadi said.
"And they have rushed to declare an Islamic caliphate and to appoint an imam [leader], which is a duty for Muslims, a duty that had been lost for centuries that had been absent from reality, making many Muslims ignorant of it.
"I have been afflicted by this great affair, I have been afflicted by this trust, a heavy trust.
Explained: What is ISIS?
"I was appointed in charge of you, though I am not the best or better than you.
"So if you see me in the right, then help me, and if you see me in the wrong, advise me and put me right and obey me as long as I obey God in you."
In an audio tape, Baghdadi last week called on Muslims worldwide to take up arms and flock to the caliphate it has declared on captured Syrian and Iraqi soil.
Western governments fear the jihadist group could eventually strike overseas, but their biggest worry for now is its sweeping gains in Iraq and the likely eventual return home of foreign fighters.
The group appears to have attracted more foreigners than any of the rebel groups fighting in Syria, and unlike other groups fighting Bashar al-Assad, has sought to appeal to non-Arabs by releasing English-language magazines and videos in English, or with English subtitles.
Much of the appeal stems from Baghdadi himself - he is touted as a battlefield commander and tactician, a crucial distinction compared with Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
"If you were a guy who wanted action, you would go with Baghdadi," Richard Barrett, a former counter-terrorism chief at Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, told AFP.
Reuters/AFP
