ISIS Affiliates in Egypt, Bangladesh Pledge Support for New Leader

The Islamic State announced in a press release that its supporters in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Bangladesh have sworn allegiance to Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi, the terrorist group’s newly appointed leader. Qurayshi was named on Thursday as the successor to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed by US special forces in a raid in northwest Syria. The announcement was carried by Nasher News, which posted pictures of masked men, purportedly from Bangladesh and Sinai, raising their index fingers and weapons in a pledge of allegiance to Qurayshi. The Egyptian group, Wilayat Sinai (Sinai Province), has led an Islamist insurgency against the regime of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi since 2014. In Bangladesh, ISIS supporters have targeted secular Bangladeshis, Shi’ites, foreigners, and others who oppose the imposition of Islamic religious law in that country.