The Islamic State group said in an audio recording released Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic was a "divine punishment" hitting its enemies. "Allah, by his will, has sent a punishment to the tyrants of our time and to their followers who cannot be seen with the naked eye" , declares the man whose voice is heard on this message, and who presents himself as ISIS spokesperson Abu Hamzah al-Kouraïchi.
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The Islamic State, dislodged from the main territories it had conquered and over which it had proclaimed a "caliphate", has experienced difficulties since the death of its emir, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, killed in late October in a special forces raid America in northwestern Syria.
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