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(CNN) -- An audio recording purportedly from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria promises more fighting in more Iraqi cities, including Baghdad.
"Continue your march as the battle is not yet raging," a voice said to be that of ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani says on the message posted early Thursday (last Wednesday night ET) on the group's media website.
"It will rage in Baghdad and Karbala. So be ready for it."
CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the audio or time and date of its recording, which is nearly 17 minutes long.
"Don't give up a hand's width of ground you've liberated," the voice says in apparent encouragement of ISIS fighters.
The message, if authentic, is further proof that the militant group are not content with control of the places they have already taken over -- and are setting their sights higher.
Open to U.S. strikes
On Wednesday, Iraq's government indicated a willingness for the United States military to conduct airstrikes against the radical Islamist militants.
Several U.S. officials said Washington views the situation as "extremely urgent" and is looking to see what more support the United States can provide to the Iraqi government, in addition to weapons and vehicles it has already provided.
Part of this will be giving Iraqi officals intelligence they can use to go going after ISIS.
Assistance could also involve training and "kinetic" activity, U.S. officials told CNN, but they wouldn't specify whether those options included airstrikes.
Baghdad's openness to airstrikes was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night.
One of the officials said there clearly was a breakdown in Iraqi security, but Washington believes it was a combination of factors, including the fact that Iraqi forces were already stretched thin by limited success against ISIS in Anbar province.
Government forces in the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit ran when attacked this week, the officials said.
"Continue your march as the battle is not yet raging," a voice said to be that of ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani says on the message posted early Thursday (last Wednesday night ET) on the group's media website.
"It will rage in Baghdad and Karbala. So be ready for it."
CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the audio or time and date of its recording, which is nearly 17 minutes long.
"Don't give up a hand's width of ground you've liberated," the voice says in apparent encouragement of ISIS fighters.
The message, if authentic, is further proof that the militant group are not content with control of the places they have already taken over -- and are setting their sights higher.
Open to U.S. strikes
On Wednesday, Iraq's government indicated a willingness for the United States military to conduct airstrikes against the radical Islamist militants.
Several U.S. officials said Washington views the situation as "extremely urgent" and is looking to see what more support the United States can provide to the Iraqi government, in addition to weapons and vehicles it has already provided.
Part of this will be giving Iraqi officals intelligence they can use to go going after ISIS.
Assistance could also involve training and "kinetic" activity, U.S. officials told CNN, but they wouldn't specify whether those options included airstrikes.
Baghdad's openness to airstrikes was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night.
One of the officials said there clearly was a breakdown in Iraqi security, but Washington believes it was a combination of factors, including the fact that Iraqi forces were already stretched thin by limited success against ISIS in Anbar province.
Government forces in the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit ran when attacked this week, the officials said.