(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Islamic State group's "caliphate" enters its second year Monday with the jihadists expanding their territory in Syria and Iraq and their global reach by claiming attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait.
The extremist group headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced on June 29, 2014 that it was reviving a form of Islamic government known as the "caliphate", pledging it would "remain and expand".
In the year since, it has gained more territory in Syria and Iraq despite an attempted fightback supported by a US-led coalition air campaign.
It has also attracted a string of affiliates - in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan and elsewhere - and sought to project fear on an international scale.
Last week, the group claimed responsibility for the attack in Tunisia in which 38 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed at a seaside resort.
And it said it was behind a suicide bomb attack against a Shiite mosque in Kuwait that killed 26 people.
IS also appeared to be the inspiration for an attack in France in which a man rammed his van into a gas factory and beheaded his boss.
"It's not clear that these actions are centrally planned or coordinated by IS," said Yezid Sayegh, a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Centre think tank.
"That said, we may be seeing the start of a long campaign conducted by IS members or sympathisers who have been trained and then sent back home to their countries to take their own initiative in planning and conducting attacks, depending on their abilities, resources, and opportunities."
The three attacks came days after IS spokesman Abu Mohamed Al Adnani urged supporters to seek "martyrdom" during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
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