An Islamic State group spokesman has urged sympathizers in Europe and the U.S. to launch attacks on civilians there if they are unable to travel to the group's self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Al-Adnani cited Omar al-Shishani as one of the current leaders of the Islamic State group, indirectly denying a Pentagon report that in March an airstrike in Syria killed al-Shishani, described as the IS "minister of war." The U.S. is trying to develop credible Arab fighters to retake Raqqa, the Islamic State's self-declared capital. Al-Adnani also said the U.S.-led war against the group was doomed to failure and that America "fell in the swamp of perdition." Last week, Brett McGurk, the U.S. presidential envoy to the 66-country anti-IS coalition, said that "this perverse caliphate is shrinking."

Source: ABC News May 22, 2016 05:00 UTC