• Suicide bomber kills 15 in attack on Iraq forces
  
• Jihadists destroy mosques and shrines in Iraq

Mosul: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamist militant group Isis, has called on Muslims to obey him, in his first video sermon. Baghdadi has been appointed caliph by the jihadist group, which has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria. The video appears to have been filmed on Friday during a sermon at the al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul, northern Iraq. It surfaced on Saturday amid reports that he had been killed or wounded in an Iraqi air raid.It was not clear when the attack was supposed to have taken place.

In the sermon, at Mosul's most famous landmark, Baghdadi praised the establishment of the "Islamic state", which was declared by Isis last Sunday. Experts say the reclusive militant leader has never appeared on video before, although there are photographs of him."Appointing a leader is an obligation on Muslims, and one that has been neglected for decades," he said.

He also said that he did not seek out the position of being the caliph, or leader, calling it a "burden"."I am your leader, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, support me, and if you see that I am wrong, advise me," he told worshippers.Meanwhile, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle at a security forces position north of Baghdad today, killing 15 people, police and a doctor said.The attack south of the sensitive shrine city of Samarra in Salaheddin province, where militants have overrun the state capital and a swathe of other territory, also wounded 25 people. Samarra, 15 kilometres north of where the attack took place, is home to the revered Shiite Al-Askari shrine, which was bombed in February 2006, sparking a bloody Sunni-Shiite sectarian war. The position was occupied by a mix of Iraqi soldiers and civilians who have volunteered to fight a major jihadist-led militant offensive that has overrun chunks of five provinces. Security forces folded under the weight of the initial onslaught, in some cases shedding uniforms and abandoning vehicles to flee, prompting the government to announce it would arm and equip people who volunteered. Meanwhile, Jihadists who overran Mosul last month have demolished ancient shrines and mosques in and around the historic northern Iraqi city, residents and social media posts said. At least four shrines to Sunni Arab or Sufi figures have been demolished, while six Shiite mosques, or husseiniyahs, have also been destroyed, across militant-held parts of northern Nineveh province.