Battle may be brewing in Sinai between al-Qaeda, IS groups
As Egypt continues efforts to suppress violence in the Sinai Peninsula, a small band of al-Qaeda followers is looking to grow and challenge both Egypt's army and Islamic State loyalists.
It looks like affiliates of the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda could go to war with each other in the Sinai Peninsula, though at this point the battle would be lopsided.
In an audio recording released Nov. 11, al-Qaeda adherent Jund al-Islam declared war on much larger Wilayat Sinai, which is associated with IS, and claimed responsibility for the Oct. 11 attack on a Wilayat Sinai vehicle that killed the four passengers. Jund al-Islam is vowing to eradicate Wilayat Sinai members if they do not repent and abandon what it calls “Baghdadi law,” which it says violates Sharia in part because it targets civilians and fellow Muslims.
Though no group has come forward yet, Wilayat Sinai is a top suspect in the Nov. 24 bombing and shooting attack on a Sinai mosque that killed more than 300 people and injured at least 100. Area villagers reported Wilayat Sinai had threated them a week before the attack.
Jund al-Islam also declared war on the Egyptian army, which it described as an “apostate.”
