Beirut: The Islamic State jihadist group has executed a senior member who was accused of embezzling funds and theft, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said on Friday.

“The Islamic State executed a senior leader in the group of Syrian nationality, beheading him and hanging his body on a cross” in eastern Deir Ezzor province, it said.

The man was accused of “taking money from Muslims… and embezzling Islamic State funds”, the Britain-based monitor added.

The group distributed a photograph of the decapitated man, whose name was given as Jalaybeeb Abu Muntather, hanging from an improvised cross.

A large handwritten document attached to him carried details of the judgment, which it said was handed down by the “commander of the faithful” — the name used by IS for its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

It was unclear what role the man had played in IS, and when precisely he was killed, but his death was also reported across social media and by activists.

The Observatory said the execution was announced via loudspeakers in areas under IS control, and that he would be buried in a Muslim cemetery despite having been executed.

IS jihadists regularly execute those accused of a variety of crimes, ranging from robbery and rape to violations of the group’s harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

It controls much of Deir Ezzor, an oil-rich province in eastern Syria.

Local support for IS growing in Pakistan

Signs of local support for the dreaded Islamic State have surfaced in various parts of Pakistan, a day after four flags of the militant group were confiscated here.

Wall-chalking welcoming the Islamic State (ISIS) appeared on City Road, Cantt Road, Dera Ismail Khan road and Miran Shah road in Bannu district.

There were similar reports from other parts of the country about the presence of support for the extremist group, The Dawn reported.

“We welcome the head of Syrian Daish Group Abu Bakkar Al Bagdadi and pay him tributes,” said a graffiti in Urdu.

Bannu borders North Waziristan, known to be the Pakistani Taliban nerve-centre where the Pakistani military is carrying operation Zarb-i-Azb against Taliban militants.

Earlier, pamphlets believed to be from the IS were also distributed in various parts of Peshawar and the Afghan refugee camp, but were later seized.

The ISIS first started making inroads into Pakistan and Afghanistan in September this year as former Guantanamo detainee, Abdul Raheem Muslim Dost, was made the chief of its ‘Khorasan’ (the old name for Afghan, Pakistani, Irani and Central Asian territories) belt.

ISIS propaganda booklets were reportedly distributed in parts of the Afghan-Pakistan tribal belt and in some Afghan refugee camps in Peshawar.

Operating mostly in Nuristan and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan, Rahim and other militant commanders had previously announced their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

A senior Afghan Mujahideen commander confirmed that Rahim had been appointed as the IS chief of Khorasan belt and he has kicked off a campaign to muster support from jihadist fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Haroon Zargon, spokesperson of the Hizb-i-Islami, a conservative militant and political group in Afghanistan, confirmed that they also had reports of the propaganda booklet being distributed in the Pak-Afghan border areas and Afghan localities in Peshawar.

Six top militant commanders of the outlawed Tehreek-i- Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including its former spokesman Shahidullah Shahid, have previously announced allegiance to the IS.

Responding to the reports, home secretary Syed Akthar Ali Shah of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa said that they were probing the reports of the distribution of the booklets but had doubts about its authenticity.

 
Islamic State leader calls for attacks in Saudi Arabia

 

 Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called for attacks against the rulers of Saudi Arabia in a speech purported to be in his name on Thursday, saying his self-declared caliphate was expanding there and in four other Arab countries.

Baghdadi also said a US-led military campaign against his group in Syria and Iraq was failing and he called for “volcanoes of jihad” the world over.

Reuters could not independently confirm the authenticity of the speech – an audio recording carried on Islamic State-run social media. The voice sounded similar to a previous speech delivered by Baghdadi in July in a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the last time he spoke in public.

The speech followed contradictory accounts out of Iraq after US air strikes last Friday about whether he was wounded in a raid. US officials said on Tuesday they could not confirm whether Baghdadi was hit in a strike near Falluja in Iraq.

In Washington on Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she could not confirm the recording’s authenticity and said Washington and others were likely to increase efforts to counter the group’s claims to represent Islam.

“Clearly the brutality, the rhetoric, the efforts to incite, by any leaders of ISIL … is not a new phenomenon. It certainly is a reminder to everyone in the region and around the world of what their intentions are,” Psaki told reporters.

Baghdadi urged supporters in Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, to take the fight to the rulers of the kingdom, which has joined the US-led coalition in mounting air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria.

“O sons of al-Haramayn…the serpent’s head and the stronghold of the disease are there…draw your swords and divorce life, because there should be no security for the Saloul,” Baghdadi said, using a derogatory term to refer to the leadership of Saudi Arabia.

Haramayn is a reference to the two holiest places in Islam, both of them in Saudi Arabia.

Since Islamic State began an offensive in Iraq in June, Saudi Arabia has sent thousands of troops to the border area.

The speech was not dated but carried a reference to a Nov. 7 US announcement that President Barack Obama had approved sending up to 1,500 more US troops to Iraq. Obama has said the United States aims to degrade and eventually destroy Islamic State.

Islamic State has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq and in June declared a caliphate over territory it controls. Baghdadi said he had accepted oaths of allegiance from supporters in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.

“We announce to you the expansion of the Islamic State to new countries, to the countries of the Haramayn, Yemen, Egypt, Libya, Algeria,” Baghdadi said. The speech was transcribed in Arabic and translated into English.

Although supporters have pledged allegiance to Islamic State in countries including Lebanon, Pakistan and Afghanistan, Baghdadi singled out only those five states, picking countries where sympathisers have a strong base and could mount attacks.

He added, however: “Oh soldiers of the Islamic State…erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere. Light the earth with fire against all dictators.”

Referring to US-led military action against his group, Baghdadi said: “Despite this Crusade campaign being the most fierce and severe of all, it is the greatest failure.”

“We see America and its allies stumbling in fear, weakness, impotence and failure.”

Referring to Yemen, where Shi’ite Houthis captured the capital Sanaa in September, forcing the government to resign, he said: “Oh soldiers of Yemen…be harsh against the Houthis, they are infidels and apostates. Fight them and win against them.”

Baghdadi also congratulated supporters in Egypt’s Sinai for starting jihad against what he called the “dictators of Egypt”. He also urged supporters in Libya, Algeria and Morocco to prevent secular groups from ruling.

After Baghdadi’s speech, Egyptian militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which swore allegiance to Islamic state this week, changed its name to Sinai Province on the Twitter feed claiming to represent it.