(CNN) A recording released online, purportedly from ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, has called for further attacks against the West.
The recording urges followers to carry out attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in early June.
The roughly half-hour message in Arabic acknowledges losses against the anti-ISIS coalition but asserted the jihadist group would prevail in the long run. The call comes after ISIS-inspired attacks on Western targets, from Brussels to San Bernardino, have shown the reach and influence of the jihadist group.
The message was released two days after EgyptAir Flight 804 crashed in the Mediterranean, but Adnani’s recording makes no reference to the tragedy.
Global reach
Since declaring its caliphate in June 2014, the self-proclaimed Islamic State has conducted or inspired at least 90 terrorist attacks in 21 countries other than Iraq and Syria, where its carnage has taken a much deadlier toll.
Those attacks have killed at least 1,390 people and injured more than 2,000 others.
No claim of EgyptAir involvement
While though the audio message did not mention the EgyptAir crash, officials have said they suspect the crash was caused by an act of terror.
No group has come forward to claim responsibility. Sudden changes in what had been an uneventful flight is why Egyptian officials are focusing on terror as the likely cause, a senior Egyptian official told CNN on Friday.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told passengers’ families Saturday that “no theory” has been ruled out.
Investigators have so far found nothing implicating the flight crew or security officials aboard the plane, the Egyptian official said.
While authorities dismissed claims that ISIS brought down a Russian passenger jet above Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in October 2015, U.S. intelligence analysis suggests that the terror group or its affiliates planted a bomb on the plane.
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