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The Islamic State, or ISIS, is a militant organization that emerged as an offshoot of al Qaeda in 2014. It quickly took control of large parts of Iraq and Syria, raising its black flag in victory and declaring the creation of a caliphate and imposing strict Islamic rule.

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The Islamic State, or ISIS, is a militant organization that emerged as an offshoot of al Qaeda in 2014. It quickly took control of large parts of Iraq and Syria, raising its black flag in victory and declaring the creation of a caliphate and imposing strict Islamic rule.

The group is sometimes also referred to as ISIL - for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - or by its Arabic acronym, Daesh.

It is largely made up of Sunni militants from Iraq and Syria but has also drawn thousands of fighters from across the Muslim world and Europe.

Its tactics - including beheadings, the taking of slaves and bans on "un-Islamic" behavior such as music and smoking - are so brutal that it was even disowned by al Qaeda.

What is the Islamic State fighting for?

The militants' goal is an ultra-conservative caliphate that strictly enforces Shariah, or Islamic, law.

Who started and led the Islamic State?

ISIS was founded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi.

He first led al Qaeda in Iraq, transforming it into an effective and organized fighting force. The group changed its name in April 2013, signaling its broader ambition of establishing a caliphate extending across Iraq and Syria.

In June 2014, ISIS published a manifesto purporting to trace al-Baghdadi's lineage directly back to the Prophet Muhammad.

Russia believes one of its airstrikes may have killed al-Baghdadi in May 2017. However, that has never been confirmed.

The group's director of external operations, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, is on the FBI's Most Wanted List as the man most likely to cause harm in the West.

Counterterrorism officials have said that al-Adnani most likely "greenlighted" the deadly Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015 that killed 130.

What role did women play in ISIS?

ISIS doesn't recruit women for battlefield roles, but it still has enlisted women from around the Muslim world and Europe to help build its caliphate.

The group uses social media to get the word out, promising women husbands who are devout jihadis.

In its one-time capital, Raqqa, a female brigade enforced their strict interpretation of Shariah by ensuring that women dressed according to their standards of modesty and by punishing them with lashes if they violated the code.

What was the U.S. response to ISIS?

Since 2014, the U.S. has led a coalition of countries carrying out airstrikes against ISIS and in support of Iraqi troops fighting the militants.

By the end of 2017, ISIS lost much of its ground in Iraq and Syria, and Iraq declared its war against the militant group over in December.

However, while ISIS' self-declared caliphate is in territorial tatters, analysts have warned that the group is retreating into what some call a "virtual caliphate" from where it will attempt to inspire more lone wolf terror attacks in the West.

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What is ISIS? Key facts about the Islamic State

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The militant Islamist organization ISIS once controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria where it declared a caliphate, or a state under strict Islamic rule.

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ISIS was founded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi. He first led al Qaeda in Iraq, transforming it into an effective and organized fighting force. The group changed its name in April 2013, signaling its broader ambition of establishing a caliphate extending across Iraq and Syria.

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The militants' goal is an ultra-conservative caliphate that strictly enforces Shariah, or Islamic, law.

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The attacks in Paris on the night of Friday 13 November 2015 by gunmen and suicide bombers hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars, almost simultaneously - and left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded.

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ISIS claimed the Paris attacks were a response to France’s campaign against its fighters and insults against Islam’s prophet, an argument that was also voiced by the ‘lone wolves’ who attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices and the Kosher supermarket in January 2015. Besides ruling an Islamic State, the organisation wants to claim responsibility for and control of Muslims worldwide. Managing territory and infrastructures allowed ISIS to generate revenue, recruit militants, conquer new lands, and hence spread its area of influence further.

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TOPIC HIGHLIGHTED

Analysis and evaluation of migration at local, national and international levels. The aim of the research is to contribute to the study and discussion of the phenomenon of international mobility as well to provide answers to the questions that surround it.

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Analysis of North Africa and the Middle East's political and socioeconomic transformations, of its regional conflicts and cooperation, of the new leadership in the region and of Euro-Mediterranean relations.

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TOPIC HIGHLIGHTED Analysis and evaluation of migration at local, national and international levels. The aim of the research is to contribute to the study and discussion of the phenomenon of international mobility as well to provide answers to the questions that surround it.

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The casualties were secured

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people were praying and sending condolences

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The man was suffering from the pain of losing his family

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The guards were supervising the city

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Injured people during the attack

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Buildings were destroyed

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The horrible scene of the attack

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Egyptian soldiers killed, injured in North Sinai attack

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Bomb attacks targeting the police and army in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula have killed two people and wounded more than 30, officials say. A suicide bomber targeted a police compound in the city of El-Arish, leaving a civilian driver dead. A roadside bomb later exploded beside an armoured vehicle, killing a soldier.

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Bomb attacks targeting the police and army in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula have killed two people and wounded more than 30, officials say.

A suicide bomber targeted a police compound in the city of El-Arish, leaving a civilian driver dead.

A roadside bomb later exploded beside an armoured vehicle, killing a soldier.

Sinai Province, a jihadist group affiliated to Islamic State, claimed it was behind the first attack, the al-Yawm al-Sabaa newspaper reported.

Militants based in the Sinai have killed hundreds of soldiers and police since the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

'Shattered glass'

In the first attack, the suicide bomber drove a water tanker filled with explosives into the gate at the rear entrance to the police compound in El-Arish shortly after 06:00 (04:00 GMT), security officials said.

As the vehicle approached, police fired on it, detonating the explosives inside. The blast killed the bomber and a civilian worker at a nearby electricity company who had been driving by the compound.

Interior ministry spokesman Hani Abdul Latif said the death toll could have been much higher had the bomber been able to enter the barracks.

"The security forces dealt with the vehicle near the checkpoint of the base, which saved a lot of lives," he told the AFP news agency. "The wounded policemen suffered only minor injuries from shattered glass."

Shortly after the attack, an army officer was killed and three soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded beside their armoured vehicle a few kilometres away.

Meanwhile, two suspected militants died when a bomb they were transporting on a motorbike exploded in Fayoum, a town south-west of Cairo, security officials told the AP news agency. One of the men was wanted for a previous attack on a police station in Fayoum, they added.

Crackdown

Sinai Province was known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis until it pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in November. It has claimed responsibility for most of the major attacks in Sinai, including a series of strikes that left at least 30 people dead on 29 January.

However, the official Twitter account for the group has not made any reference to Tuesday's attacks.

The government has launched a major military operation in the peninsula, declared a state of emergency, and imposed a night-time curfew in an attempt to halt the attacks.

Houses close to the border with Gaza have also been demolished to prevent what the military says is the smuggling of weapons and infiltration of militants from the Palestinian territory.

On Sunday, the military said that troops and helicopter gunships had killed 70 suspected militants in northern Sinai in the first week of March. Another 23 people were arrested.

The latest violence comes ahead of a major conference at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, in southern Sinai, aimed at attracting foreign investment to the region.

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Bomb attacks targeting the police and army in Egypt's restive Sinai peninsula have killed two people and wounded more than 30, officials say. A suicide bomber targeted a police compound in the city of El-Arish, leaving a civilian driver dead. A roadside bomb later exploded beside an armoured vehicle, killing a soldier.

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A shift in ideology, the fallout from a government crackdown, and chaos in neighboring states have transformed Sinai from dangerous haven to conflict zone. Factions have united into a group with unprecedented access to funds and weapons, and which has become the most ambitious Isis franchise outside Syria or Iraq.

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The Bedouin desert wastes where a Russian passenger jet was downed are now a launchpad for Egypt's deadly Isis offshoot

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1. Stop the bombing and remove the troops

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1. Stop the bombing and remove the troops

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4. Starve ISIS of people willing to fight for them

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4. Starve ISIS of people willing to fight for them