The leader of ISIS Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi appeared on Monday in a video for the first time since his last appearance in Mosul, Iraq in 2014.

The video went on for 18 minutes in which ISIS leader talked about many countries including Libya and several militants sitting with Al-Baghdadi said they could be effective in Libya despite losing Sirte in 2016.

Al-Baghdadi hailed the terrorists' attacks in Fuqahaa town in Libya, saying they were part of the reaction to the attacks on ISIS in Al-Baghuz in Syria.

He called on ISIS militants in Libya to carry out a war of attrition so they can destroy logistics, kill people and damage the economy in the country.

Several officials at the Presidential Council's government said over the last weeks that Khalifa Haftar's military operations in southern Tripoli had opened door for ISIS sleeper cells who always take advantage of security vacuum caused by the fighting.

The Interior Ministry said earlier that it had arrested three ISIS militants, one of whom was a prominent leader for the group in Sirte.