Spiritual Leader of Libya’s Biggest Jihadi Group Pledges Allegiance to ISIS

[Valin]

Newsweek:

Jack Moore

4/8/15

 

Ansar al-Sharia, the top jihadi group in the civil war-torn country of Libya, has edged closer to pledging allegiance to ISIS after its spiritual leader and top judge, Abu Abdullah al-Libi, defected to the radical group, according to an audio message released by the terror group.

 

On Sunday, al-Libi - who was Ansar al-Sharia’s Shari’i (or judge) - confirmed his departure from the jihadi group when he tweeted a picture of a book entitled The Legal Validity of Pledging Allegiance to the Islamic State, along with the caption “Soon, God willing”.

 

In an audio message released on ISIS-controlled radio in the central Libyan city of Sirte last week, ISIS accepted al-Libi’s pledge of allegiance to the group’s caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

 

"We start with the news that will soften the hearts of the believers [out of joy] in Benghazi, where the Caliphate have accepted the pledge of allegiance of Shaykh Abu Abdullah Al-Libi to the caliph, Abu Bakr - with great happiness, and we ask Allah to bless his pledge and make it a source of Kheyr [good] in the building/progress of the caliphate,” the statement says, as translated by researcher The Maghrebi Note.

 

(Snip)