Cowering ISIS leader Bakr Al-Baghdadi claims he will WIN the battle for Mosul in first message for almost a year – as his fleeing fanatics light huge oil fires in desperate last stand
Twisted 'caliph' tells supporters to attack infidels and even invade Turkey in desperate rallying call for Mosul fighters
DELUDED ISIS leader Bakr al-Baghdadi has made a desperate rallying call to his warped followers -- telling them they will WIN the battle of Mosul.
In his first message for over a year, the self-declared 'caliph' told jihadists to make infidels' blood "flow like rivers".
It comes as his fleeing extremist army set fire to dozens of oil wells on the outskirts of the city.
Dramatic photographs show 30ft-high fireballs rising into the air as thick black smoke fills the sky.
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Retreating ISIS militants ran from the town of Al Qayyarah as pro-Iraqi troops continued their advance.
Al-Baghdadi's rambling half-hour-long audio message called on ISIS forces to invade Turkey and carry out attacks on Western targets.
Terrified al-Baghdadi is thought to still be in Mosul, Iraq's second city, after fleeing ISIS 'capital' Raqqa over the border in Syria to avoid allied bombings.
He called on followers to obey orders and drive out liberating forces who have now made headway into the city.
It has since emerged that ISIS are using Mad-Max-style tunnelling machines to help squirrel their cowardly leaders out of war-torn Mosul
On Tuesday Iraqi special forces captured the city's TV station, which had been used to pump out pro-ISIS propaganda, in a major symbolic victory.
"Oh you who seek martyrdom! Start your actions! Turn the night of the disbelievers into day," al-Baghdadi said.
"Totally decimate their territories, and make their blood flow like rivers!"
He called on fighters to "respond to all attacks," and to "target all in their media and forces, and all who belong to them."
His desperation has been likened to Adolf Hitler in his final days in a bunker under Berlin.
Both evil leaders have sent child soldiers on suicide missions while defiantly declaring victory is still possible even as enemy troops close in.
His message comes as Iraqi forces are hoping to lead him other terrified ISIS warlords escaping Mosul into a ‘kill zone’ for waiting warplanes.
Military leaders closing in on the under-siege Iraqi city are hoping to funnel fleeing jihadis into a so-called 'corridor of death'.
The second most wanted man in the world has a $10million bounty on his head and he's the number one target for those fighting to recapture Mosul.
The Iraqi Army entered Mosul for the first time tonight in over two years.
Fuad Hussein, chief of staff to Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, said in an interview with the that his government had information “Baghdadi is there and, if he is killed, it will mean the collapse of the whole [ISIS] system.”
ISIS would have to choose a new caliph in the middle of a battle, but no successor would have the authority of Baghdadi, who surprised the world by establishing the caliphate after capturing Mosul in June 2014.
Baghdadi has kept himself completely hidden for the last eight or nine months, according to Mr Hussein.
He added that the caliph had become very dependent on ISIS commanders from Mosul and Tal Afar, a city just to the west of Mosul.
As Iraqi and Kurd forces storm the terror group’s last citadel in Iraq from the south, east and north, the western side of the city will be left open.
"We'll try to give them an escape to run to Syria," said Iraqi elite forces commander Major Salam Jassim.
Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul, a spokesman for the Iraqi military, added: “If we do that, then this area will become a killing zone as we target them with our aircraft.”
It has also emerged that more a million desperate civilians are expected to flee the city of Mosul over the coming weeks as Iraqi forces close in on the ISIS stronghold.
Aid agencies have warned the battle to retake the city of 1.5million could unleash the “worst man-made humanitarian crisis”seen in modern times.
Bakr al-Baghdadi is the second most-wanted man in the world after al-Qaeda ’s Ayman al-Zawahiri and has a huge bounty on his head.
He is believed to be holed up with ISIS bombmaker Fawzi Ali Nouimeh, raising fears of a network of more booby-trap bombs throughout the stricken city.
The anti-ISIS offensive is dependent on US-led air strikes and the presence of US special forces.
“I assure you that the Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga do not move one millimetre forward without American permission and coordination,” said one Kurdish observer.
He did not think that the battle for Mosul would necessarily go on a long time.
But it is increasingly difficult for the 3,000 to 5,000 Isis fighters in Mosul and the 1,500 to 2,500 on the outskirts to escape, even if they wanted to.
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