By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 4 October 2014:
Derna’s Shoura Council of Islamic Youth is said to have declared its allegiance to Daesh, also . . .[restrict]known as the Islamic State, and to the “caliphate” of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.
It reportedly did so yesterday at a public announcement in the Islamist-controlled eastern town, which was then followed by a parade of the council’s military vehicles.
There has been no confirmation of the announcement from what is, despite the name, a militia. It does not have unfettered control of the town. There is an ongoing power struggle with the Islamist rival Abu Sleem Martyrs’ Brigade. A fortnight ago, at least six people died in clashes between the two.
Daesh, listed as a terrorist organisation by the UN and a number of countries, has managed to seize swathes of northern Iraq and Syria and has maintained its power by extreme violence, including beheading its many victims. Hundreds of Iraqi and Syrian soldiers have been beheaded as have been Christians and other minorities. This week it beheaded British aid worker Alan Henning who was seized last year while taking aid to Syrians. It now threatens to behead 26-year-old American aid worker Peter Kassig, a convert to Islam who was seized a year ago taking aid to Deir Ezzour in Syria. [/restrict]
