CRI听力:IS Leader Vows to Fight to Last Man; US Reports Progress in Airstrikes

The head of the Islamic State has issued a statement, saying his group is prepared to fight to the last man.

The audio statement is the first since reports from Iraqi sources suggested Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was injured in an airstrike this past weekend.

"The soldiers of the Islamic State are fighting. Fighting to obey God and to attain his closeness, they will never cease fighting, even if only one soldier remains, they will never cease fighting, because they reject humiliation."

Analysis of the recording suggests it is authentic.

However, its unclear whether the recording was made before or after the airstrike.

Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel says the US and coalition forces are making progress through their airstrikes in both Iraq and Syria.

"Directly and through support of Iraqi forces, coalition air-strikes have hit ISIL's command and control, its leadership, its revenue sources, its supply lines and logistics and impaired its ability to amass forces."

Hagel has made the comments in testimony before Congress.

His testimony comes just days after US President Barack Obama asked Congress for a new 5.6-billion-US-dollar package to expand the US mission in Iraq.

Obama has already authorized 15-hundred additional US troops be sent into Iraq as "advisors."