Belmokhar's jihadist group in N Afirca vows allegiance to Is

NOUAKCHOTT;
The jihadist group of notorious one-eyed
Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmkhtar
has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State
organisation according to an audio recording
broadcasted by private Mauritanian agency
Al- Akhbar.

Belmokhotar's Al-murabitoun group was linked
to Al Qaeda,but one of  its leading members
said in the  recording that it was now aligning
itself  with the IS organishation

The Mauritanian news agency which reguary
statements by jihadists said it had identified
the voice in  the audio as the of Sahraoui and
that he was now the new leader of the group.

AFP was unable to obtain immediate confirmation
from the source.
In the recording ,Sahraoui also called on "all
jihadist movements to pledge allegiance to
Baghdadi  self proclaimed caliph of IS in order
to peak with one voice"

Al-Murabitoun 's decision to align with the
ISgroup came  just two months after a similar
move by Boko Haram,the jihadist militants
wreaking havoc in northern Nigeria.

IS  sprang to worldwide  prominence in June
last year when it overran large parts of Iraq
and Syria declaring  a calihate in the territory
under its control.

Several local jihadist  groups quickly affifiated
themselves ,and IS has since received pledges
of fealty from extremist outfits from as far
afield as  algeria Afghanistan and Indonesia