The leader of the Sunni militant group ISIL which has seized large parts of Iraq and Syria has appeared for the first time in a video posted on a Jihadist website.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a self-appointed ‘caliph’, was filmed preaching in Mosul, Iraq’s second city.

He called on all Muslims to obey him.

The video appeared at a time when the militant leader had been reported killed or wounded in an Iraqi air raid.

Al-Baghdadi praised the establishment of the “Islamic state” which was declared by ISIL last week.

Elsehwere, ISIL militants destroyed around a dozen shrines and places of worship in the Nineveh region in northern Iraq. They attacked Shia, Sunni and Christian targets and posted the images on social media.