ISIS menace al-Qaeda in Derna

By Aya Elbrqawi in Benghazi for Magharebia – 13/06/2014

A Libyan jihadist just home from Syria was shot dead in Derna this week during a feud between rival terror groups.

The al-Battar Brigade, which is affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), issued a statement on Monday (June 9th) saying that heads would be cut off, stomachs slit and Libya filled with graves to avenge Mahdi Saad Abu al-Abyadh al-Gaithi.

Al-Ghaithi was killed in a clash with the Abu Slim Martyrs Brigade, inflaming the conflict between the jihadist groups.

[File] Al-Battar Brigade posted a grainy video from 2012 showing slain emir Mahdi Saad Abu al-Abyadh al-Gaithi.

“The people of Derna are disempowered,” said Tahani Obeidi, a 28 year old housewife. “Most hope that the army enters Derna to save them from the pressure they are suffering at the hands of the terrorists.”

“Takfirists are in control and [we] fear assassinations,” she added.

For his part, media figure Mahmud Shammam described extremist groups as “forces of darkness and evil”.

“They are afraid of ballot boxes, and thus use their religious power represented by the mufti to encourage suicide operations,” he said.

“ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra and Ansar al-Sharia are trying to push us into the abyss, but the Libyan people will not allow them to do so,” Shammam added.

On the other hand, Ramzi Yousef, a member of Ansar al-Sharia said, “The group of al-Battar, the word refers to one of the names of the sword an affiliate of Ansar al-Sharia. It was founded in Syria and all its members are from Libya. They are the fiercest because they do not negotiate but just act. ”

He affirmed that it was a group trained in weapons and specialising in suicide attacks, bombings, and assassinations that they learned in Syria.

According to local residents, the threat to Libyan civilians from the rival extremist groups is not just violence.

“A family next door with eight young girls was forced to escape to Benghazi in August,” engineer Firas al-Mansouri, 32, told Magharebia. “The father was afraid and moved, to get away from extremist groups that marry off Libyan girls to al-Qaeda, against their parents’ will.”

“The Abu Salim brigade is another form of al-Qaeda and Ansar are the same as ISIS,” al-Mansouri added.

read more:

http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/features/2014/06/13/feature-01

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