A report has revealed that a new armed group that calls itself the 'Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria has defected from Al Qaeda's North African faction and has sworn its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
In a statement released on Sunday, a regional commander of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) accused the group of deviating from its true path.
Gouri Abdelmalek, nom de guerre Khaled Abu Suleimane, declared himself the leader of the splinter group and was joined by an AQIM commander of an eastern region in Algeria.
Algerian officials declined to comment on the statement.
The 'Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria' is the latest group to break with Al Qaeda and side with the ISIS, after veteran Algerian jihadist, Mokhtar Belmokhtar's group, "Those who sign in Blood" pledged its loyalty to the militant group.
