Come and join the caliphate, ISIS urges Al-Shabab
Sunday, October 4, 2015
The Islamic State group which fighting in Iraq and Syria has called for the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabab group in Somalia to pledge allegiance to their caliphate under their leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
In series of video messages posted on militants’ forums on Sunday, the ISIS group tells Al-Shabab “Pledge your allegiance”. In one of the message, ISIS said the call aims to preserve the ‘rights of the Mujahid” in Somalia, referring militant fighters in Somalia.
The call is the second one that ISIS tries to sway Al-Shabab from its long-time terrorist partner Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda opposes ISIS activities, calling the rival group as ‘bloodthirsty’ taking an approach which it said can be seen as ‘savagery’.
The development comes as Al-Shabab fighters have detained several foreign fighters it accused of trying to switch sides with ISIS last weeks. The unidentified fighters were arrested after the group’s leadership called its followers to stick to their allegiance to Al-Qaeda.
Security analysts said that Al-Shabab may not be ready to join ISIS by dropping Al-Qaeda which unlike ISIS sent fighters and logistics support to the group since it rose to prominence in 2007.
However, the quick rise and prominence of ISIS is a worrying trend for Al-Qaeda as Islamic State leadership has started building alliance with Al-Qaeda affiliates, including the Nigeria-based group, Boko Haram which has declared its allegiance to ISIS last year.
The Islamic State group’s gains over the past year have been sizeable. For nearly two decades, al-Qaida was unchallenged as the world’s most prominent terrorist organization. But IS has stormed forward to rival it — and even surpass it in places, according the British newspaper, Guardian.
Perhaps more importantly, the Islamic State group has a dynamism and fervor that has seemed to fade for al-Qaida. The IS declaration of a “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria inspired a stream of thousands of foreign fighters to join it and earned it pledges of allegiance by individual militants around the region. The group’s notorious brutalities — everything from beheadings to enslavement of women from religious minorities — are seen by its supporters as proof of its purity and refusal to compromise on what it considers “God’s law.”, according to Military and defence site, The Insider.