Islamic State's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi orders followers to mint a currency

Islamic State says its leader has ordered the group to start minting gold, silver and copper coins for its own currency - the Islamic dinar.

A website affiliated with the militant group said Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had instructed his followers to start minting the coins to "change the tyrannical monetary system" modelled on Western economies that "enslaved Muslims". The posting says the order was approved by the group's Shura Council, an advisory board.

On one side, the words "Islamic State" and "a caliphate following the model of the Prophet [Mohammed]" are engraved, as well as the coin's weight and value. On the other, symbols are used. The five-dinar gold coin shows a world map, while the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem is shown on the silver 10-dirham coin. The crescent is embossed on one of the copper coins, while three palm trees are engraved on another.

After seizing large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria earlier this year Islamic State proclaimed a caliphate, or Islamic empire, on lands under its control. Experts say the group is financed mainly through extortion of people in areas it controls, oil sales and kidnap ransoms.