Updated
Sahel Security May Hinge on AQIM-ISIS Loyalties
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is divided over its allegiance to the ISIS “caliphate.” Magharebia reports:
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s call for all jihadists to swear allegiance to his so-called caliphate is dividing al-Qaeda’s Maghreb branch.
Sahel security may now hinge on whether regional terror groups shift their loyalty from al-Qaeda to the self-declared “Islamic State” (ISIS).
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is split between those who see al-Baghdadi as their new leader and those who remain under the banner of the parent al-Qaeda organisation led by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The infighting started in mid-July, when AQIM chief Abdelmalek Droukdel (alias Abou Moussaab Abdelouadoud) decided not to ally his group with al-Baghdadi’s terror organisation in the Levant.