| 1 | This undated file image posted on a militant website on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), now called the Islamic State group, marching in Raqqa, Syria. |
| 2 | An online image released Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015, purported to show the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt had beheaded a Croatian hostage. |
| 3 | This file image made from video posted on a militant website Saturday, July 5, 2014, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, purports to show the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Iraq during his first public appearance. |
| 4 | An online image released Wednesday purported to show the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt had beheaded a Croatian hostage. |
| 5 | In this June 23, 2014, file photo, fighters from the Islamic State group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. |
| 6 | In this Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, file photo, smoke billows behind an Islamic State group sign during clashes between militants from the Islamic State group and Iraqi security forces during a military operation to regain control of the town of Sadiyah, 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq in Diyala province, Iraq. |
| 7 | In this Monday, June 16, 2014 file photo, demonstrators chant pro-Islamic State group slogans as they wave the group's flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, Iraq. |
| 8 | April 18, 2010 - U.S. and Iraqi forces kill two top al-Qaida in Iraq leaders, allowing al-Baghdadi to become the leader of a terror group weakened by a concerted campaign aimed at ending a Sunni insurgency in the country. |
| 9 | Oct. 31, 2010 - Al-Baghdadi's al-Qaida militants attack Our Lady of Salvation Catholic church in Baghdad during Sunday night mass, killing 58 people in the deadliest assault targeting Christians since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion there. |
| 10 | The militants reportedly demand the release of Muslim women they claim were held by Egypt's Coptic Christian church. |
| 11 | Oct. 4, 2011 - The U.S. puts a $10 million bounty on al-Baghdadi's head over a series of attacks he orchestrated. |
| 12 | July 21, 2012 - In his first purported online message, al-Baghdadi promises to regain lost ground in Iraq and calls on militants to "chase and liquidate the judges, the investigators and the guards." |
| 13 | Within days, his group begins a campaign of attacks, car bombings and other assaults killing hundreds. |
| 14 | He also mentions Syria, in the grips of a civil war pitting largely Sunni rebels against embattled President Bashar Assad. |
| 15 | By this time, al-Baghdadi already has begun to send fighters there. |
| 16 | April 2013 - Al-Baghdadi announces his group has taken over the Nusra Front, the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. |
| 17 | Nusra denies the takeover, sparking anger and infighting that continues to this day. |
| 18 | July 2013 - A military-style assault by al-Baghdadi's fighters on two Baghdad-area prisons free more than 500 inmates. |
| 19 | January 2014 - Al-Baghdadi's forces sweep into Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq's Anbar province, which Iraqi security forces had abandoned weeks earlier. |
| 20 | That came after security forces killed demonstrators during a Sunni protest, effectively turning the unrest into an uprising. |
| 21 | Early February 2014 - Al-Qaida breaks with al-Baghdadi's group, now known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. |
| 22 | Al-Baghdadi ignores al-Qaida as his group now has control of wide regions of Syria, including the city of Raqqa, which becomes the group's de facto capital. |
| 23 | June 10, 2014 - Al-Baghdadi's fighters take over Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul, followed by Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and smaller communities in the Sunni heartland as government forces melt away. |
| 24 | June 29, 2014 - The group declares the establishment of an Islamic state, or caliphate, in territories it controls in Iraq and Syria and demands allegiance from Muslims worldwide. |
| 25 | It declares al-Baghdadi the leader of the new caliphate. |
| 26 | The militants rename themselves the Islamic State group. |
| 27 | July 5, 2104 - A man purporting to be al-Baghdadi makes his first public appearance, delivering a sermon at a mosque in Mosul. |
| 28 | Aug. 8 - The U.S. begins targeting the Islamic State group with airstrikes, citing the humanitarian plight of Iraq's minorities, like the Yazidi. |
| 29 | Aug. 19 - The Islamic State group releases a video showing a jihadi behead James Foley, a 40-year-old journalist from Rochester, New Hampshire, in response to the U.S.-led airstrikes. |
| 30 | This marks the first of many videos showing militants behead Western captives. |
| 31 | Sept. |
| 32 | 2 - The Islamic State group releases a video showing a jihadi behead American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff. |
| 33 | 13 - The Islamic State group releases a video showing a jihadi behead British aid worker David Haines. |
| 34 | Oct. 3 - The Islamic State group releases a video showing a jihadi behead British hostage Alan Henning. |
| 35 | Nov. 8 - Iraqi officials say al-Baghdadi is wounded in an airstrike on an Iraqi town near the Syrian border. |
| 36 | Days later, an online audio message purportedly from al-Baghdadi urges his followers to "explode the volcanoes of jihad everywhere." |
| 37 | Nov. 16 - An Islamic State group video shows extremists behead a dozen Syrian soldiers and U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig. |
| 38 | Jan. 10 - An online video shows Taliban fighters in Pakistan pledge loyalty to the Islamic State group and behead a man they identify as a soldier. |
| 39 | Similar pledges previously arose from Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere in the Mideast. |
| 40 | Afghan authorities later acknowledge a similar presence in their country. |
| 41 | Jan. 24 - A message claims the Islamic State group beheads Japanese hostage Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old adventurer, after earlier demanding $200 million for him and captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto. |
| 42 | Japanese and Jordanian officials attempt to negotiate a prisoner swap to free him and captured Jordanian pilot 1st Lt. Mu'ath al-Kaseasbeh. |
| 43 | Jan. 26 - Kurdish fighters take control of the Syrian border town of Kobani near Turkey after fighting the Islamic State group for months. |
| 44 | U.S.-led airstrikes helped turn the tide for the Kurds. |
| 45 | Jan. 31 - The Islamic State group releases a video saying it beheaded Goto. |
| 46 | Feb. 3 - The Islamic State group releases a video of it burning al-Kaseasbeh to death in a cage, sparking outrage in Jordan, which launches new strikes targeting the militants. |
| 47 | Feb. 6 - The Islamic State group claims a Jordanian airstrike kills American hostage Kayla Jean Mueller. |
| 48 | U.S. officials later confirm her death, but say it wasn't caused by a Jordanian airstrike. |
| 49 | Feb. 15 - Libyan militants who earlier pledged their loyalty to the Islamic State group behead a group of Coptic Christians from Egypt in an online video. |
| 50 | Feb. 16 - Egypt launches airstrikes in Libya in retaliation for the beheadings. |
| 51 | March 11 - After days of besieging Tikrit, Iraqi troops and allied Shiite militiamen enter the Islamic State-held city, backed by Iranian advisers and forgoing the air support of the U.S.-led coalition. |
| 52 | March 20 - A group identifying itself as an affiliate of the Islamic State group in Yemen claims a series of suicide bombings killing 137 people and wounding 345, though U.S. officials express skepticism about the claim. |
| 53 | March 25 - The U.S.-led coalition begins airstrikes on Tikrit after Iraqi efforts to take the city stall. |
| 54 | Shiite militias pull out of Iraqi forces in protest, but later rejoin the offensive. |
| 55 | April 1 - Iraq declares a "magnificent victory" over the Islamic State group in Tikrit, its biggest gain yet against the militants. |
| 56 | April 18 - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blames the Islamic State group for a suicide bombing in the country that kills at least 35 people and wounds 125. |
| 57 | April 19 - Islamic State affiliates in Libya release a video showing them behead and shoot dead groups of Ethiopian Christians, slayings resembling the February beheadings of the Egyptian Coptic Christians. |
| 58 | May 17 - The contested Iraqi city of Ramadi falls to the Islamic State group as Iraqi forces abandon their weapons and armored vehicles to flee the provincial capital in a major loss despite intensified U.S.-led airstrikes. |
| 59 | June 16 - Kurds take crucial Syrian border town of Tal Abyad from Islamic State group. |
| 60 | July 23 - Turkey agrees to let the United States launch airstrikes against the Islamic State group from its strategic Incirlik Air Base. |
| 61 | Turkey later begins striking Islamic State targets in Syria, as well as Kurdish forces it considers threats. |
| 62 | Aug. 5 - An affiliate of the Islamic State group threatens to kill Croatian hostage Tomislav Salopek in 48 hours unless Egypt releases "Muslim women" it holds in prison. |
| 63 | Aug. 12 - An online image purports to show Salopek beheaded by the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt. |