Little is more telling about a group of people than their private communications. And for understanding the remnants of the Islamic State in Syria, there are few better sources than the Telegram chats of female members currently in Syrian detention camps. Cell phones are prohibited there, and the punishment for having one can be severe. Yet, text chains find their way.

The Justice Department on Wednesday charged two British members of ISIS with terrorism offenses related to their alleged roles in the kidnapping and killing of several American hostages.

El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey are now in FBI custody. They will stand trial in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, officials said, and are expected to be arraigned later Wednesday.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL; /ˈaɪsəl, ˈaɪsɪl/), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS; /ˈaɪsɪs/),[85] officially known as the Islamic State (IS) and also known by its Arabic-language acronym Daesh (Arabic: داعش‎, romanized: Dāʿish, IPA: [ˈdaːʕɪʃ]),[86][87] is a terrorist militant group and a former unrecognised proto-state[88] that follows a fundamentalist, Salafi jihadist doctrine of Sunni Islam.[89][90] ISIL gained global prominence in early 2014 when it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive,[91] followed by its

President Donald Trump announced Sunday morning from the White House that U.S. forces had killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the so-called “Islamic State,” or ISIS, saying Baghdadi had “died like a dog,” and had been “whimpering, and crying, and screaming all the way.”

Trump’s unusual vivid description of the battle at Baghdadi’s hideout — in which no U.S. or allied personnel were killed or even injured — sought to portray Baghdadi as a coward who “died like a dog,” evil to the very last.

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during an overnight raid led by U.S. military forces in Syria, a further blow to a jihadist group that once held a swathe of territory in Iraq and Syria.

Where once they confronted armies, the extremist Islamist group’s adherents have in recent years staged hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks. In some cases, the group has claimed responsibility for atrocities such as bombings in Sri Lanka in April that killed more than 250 people.

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump declared Sunday morning that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dead after a US military raid in northwest Syria over the weekend.

What’s in a phrase? When it comes to terrorism, more than you think, says President Obama.

In a town hall at Fort Lee, Va., on Wednesday, the president was asked about his choice not to use the phrase “Islamic terrorist” to describe ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups. Gold Star mother Tina Houchins wanted to know why Obama wouldn’t use the term, if he believed that terrorist groups themselves considered their activities grounded in Islam.

At least 80 people were killed and 231 injured Saturday when suicide bombers attacked a large demonstration in the Afghan capital of Kabul, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry.

The demonstration was organized by ethnic Hazaras demanding that a major regional power line be rerouted through their impoverished home province. Most Hazaras are Shiite Muslims but most Afghans are Sunni.

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that the U.S. and its allies are making progress on the battlefield against the Islamic State.

But then John Brennan dropped a major caveat.

CIA Director John Brennan, in a chilling warning on the Islamic State’s growing influence, told lawmakers Thursday that U.S.-led efforts to strike at the terror group have not hampered its “terrorism capability and global reach” – a message that stands in stark contrast to President Obama’s more upbeat assessment earlier this week.