What is Islamic State, the group implicated in Germany stabbing? Check history, new tactics, and strength in Africa and Middle East
Islamic State has described the 26-year-old Syrian man taken into custody after a stabbing rampage in the western German city of Solingen as a «soldier» of the group.
Though largely crushed by a U.S.-led coalition several years ago, IS has managed some major attacks while seeking to rebuild.
They include an assault on a Russian concert hall in March that killed at least 143 people and two explosions in the Iranian city of Kerman in January that killed nearly 100 people.
The Sunni militant group also claimed responsibility for an assault by suicide attackers on a mosque in Oman in July that killed at least nine people, raising fears the group may be attempting a comeback in new territory.
In August, authorities said a 19-year-old Austrian suspected of masterminding a planned attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna had vowed allegiance to the leader of Islamic State.
Following are facts about the movement.
HISTORY
At the height of its power from 2014-2017, IS's «caliphate» held sway over a wide area of Syria and Iraq, imposing death and torture on opponents of its radical brand of Islam. Its fighters repeatedly defeated both countries' armies and carried out or inspired attacks in dozens of cities around the world.
Its then leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, killed in 2019 by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria, rose from obscurity to lead the ultra-hardline group and declare himself «caliph» of all Muslims.
The caliphate collapsed in Iraq, where it once had a base only a 30-minute drive from Baghdad, and
