Daesh calls on followers to attack US, Europe during holy month of Ramadan: audio message

A new message purporting to come from the spokesman of Daesh calls on followers to launch attacks on the United States and Europe during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in early June.

"Ramadan, the month of conquest. Get prepared, be ready ... so that you make it a month of calamity on the non-believers anywhere," said the message, purporting to be from Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, suggesting attacks on military and civilian targets.

The audio clip was distributed on Saturday by Twitter accounts that usually publish Daesh statements. Its authenticity could not be independently verified.

"The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us. If one of you hoped to reach [Daesh], we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night," Adnani said.

Earlier, in a rare appeal to India's Muslim minority, the group said it is planning to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed in 2002 riots in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat and elsewhere.

The militant group, which seeks to establish a so-called 'caliphate' across the Middle East and beyond, has claimed deadly attacks over the past year on civilians in Turkey, France, Belgium and the United States.

But the message made no mention of the EgyptAir flight that crashed into the Mediterranean on Thursday in unexplained circumstances, amid speculation by Egyptian, French and American officials that a terror attack was the most likely cause.

A U.S.-led coalition, which also includes European and Arab countries, launched a campaign of air strikes against Daesh in Iraq and Syria in 2014 after the militants seized vast swathes of territory in those countries.