IMU leader Usman Ghazi declared the group's support for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in September 2014, however it continued to cooperate closely with the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to Afghan government sources. In March 2015, a group of IMU militants in northern Afghanistan, led by Sadulla Urgenji, released a video in which they stated they no longer view the Taliban's Mullah Omar as leader and pledged allegiance to ISIL's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This was followed by another video in July 2015, in which Sheikh Muhammad Ali, identified as the IMU's spiritual leader, swears allegiance to ISIL. In August 2015, a video was released by the group in which its leader, Usman Ghazi, leads IMU fighters in taking an oath of allegiance to ISIL and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Ghazi also stated that the group should now be considered as fighters for ISIL's Afghanistan branch, Wilayat Khorasan. Following the pledge of allegiance, the Taliban launched an offensive against the IMU and forces loyal to dissident Taliban commander Mansoor Dadullah in Zabul Province, inflicting heavy casualties and effectively wiping out the group's presence in the province.