DEVELOPMENTS
— Sunnis and Kurds walked out of the first session of the Iraqi parliament, imperiling efforts to make the Shiite-led government more inclusive in the face of a bitter offensive by Sunni militants.
— More than 2,400 Iraqis were killed in June, the highest monthly death toll in seven years, the United Nations said.
— U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked Saudi Arabia for contributing $500 million to the United Nations for humanitarian aid.
News services
The leader of the extremist group that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria has called on Muslims around the world to flock to territories under his control to create an Islamic state.
In a recording posted online Tuesday, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared he wants to turn the enclave his fighters have carved out in the heart of the Middle East into a magnet for militants. He also presented himself as the leader of Islam worldwide, urging Muslims everywhere to rise up against oppression.
The audio message came two days after al-Baghdadi’s group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, unilaterally declared the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the land it controls. It also proclaimed al-Baghdadi the caliph, and demanded that all Muslims around the world pledge allegiance to him.
His group’s forceful seizure of territory and its grand pronouncement of a caliphate have transformed the Iraqi-born al-Baghdadi into one of the leading figures of the global jihadi movement, perhaps even eclipsing al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri.
After melting away in the initial onslaught, Iraq’s military and security forces have regrouped and managed to stem the tide at the outskirts of Shiite-dominated regions. The country’s political leaders, however, have been unable to bridge their differences to confront the militant threat.
In his 19-minute address, al-Baghdadi said the Islamic state was a land for all Muslims regardless of nationality, telling them it “will return your dignity, might, rights and leadership.”
“It is a state where the Arab and non-Arab, the white man and black man, the easterner and westerner are all brothers,” he said, trying to broaden his base beyond the Middle East. “Muslims, rush to your state. Yes, it is your state. Rush, because Syria is not for the Syrians, and Iraq is not for the Iraqis. The Earth is Allah’s.”
To help build that state, he appealed to those with practical skills — scholars, judges, doctors, engineers, former soldiers and people with administrative expertise — to “answer the dire need of the Muslims for them.”
The message was posted on militant websites where the group has issued statements before, and the voice resembled that on other recordings said to be by al-Baghdadi, who has rarely been photographed or appeared in public.
Al-Baghdadi’s group has already attracted jihadi fighters from across the Arab world, the Caucasus and extremists from Europe and some from the U.S. In a few short years, the organization has been transformed from an al-Qaida affiliate in Iraq into a transnational military force that has conquered and held a massive chunk of territory. Al-Qaida’s al-Zawahri expelled al-Baghdadi from the terrorist network earlier this year.
The Obama administration has been hesitant to send much military aid to Iraq for fear of dragging the U.S. into another years-long Mideast war. President Barack Obama has ruled out sending in combat troops after withdrawing U.S. forces in 2011, but this week sent more soldiers to Baghdad to help bolster the U.S. Embassy. All told, officials said, there are about 750 U.S. troops in Iraq — about half of which are advising Iraqi counterterrorism forces.
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