ISIS Leader Video Is a Fake: Iraq

New Islamic State leader seen flashing fancy watch
By Shelley Hazen,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 7, 2014 11:06 AM CDT
ISIS Leader Video Is a Fake: Iraq
A video posted on a militant website purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.   (AP Photo/Militant video)

Iraq is knocking down claims that a video purporting to show Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is even the elusive ISIS leader at all. "We have analyzed the footage ... and found it is a farce," an Interior Ministry spokesman tells Reuters. He claims al-Baghdadi—who has declared himself Caliph Ibrahim and now calls ISIS the Islamic State—was wounded in an airstrike and is being treated in Syria. A military spokesman confirms to CNN that authorities are analyzing the video and checking its contents—of a sermon in Mosul—against intelligence data. The US is also taking a look.

Meanwhile, something curious in the video is getting no small amount of attention: a rather pricey designer watch on al-Baghdadi’s wrist, the Telegraph reports. Some speculate the watch could be a Rolex, Sekonda, or the much fancier Omega seamaster Aqua Terra, which costs up to $6,000. The flashy timepiece has some pointing out its contradiction with the sermon’s message, which also tells Muslims to obey him as their leader. (Read more Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi stories.)

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