DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A group of Taliban militants formally announced a set-up for Islamic State that would consist of border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan and pledged allegiance to Abu Baker Al Baghdadi.

The group released an online video on Sunday in which former spokesman for the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Shahidullah Shahid is addressing a group of militants in a forested area. He read out a message in Arabic and disclosed names of commanders for different areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The footage shows that the militants have assembled in a secluded valley where they put their hands together and narrate oath in Arabic pledging their allegiance to Baghdadi, founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham.

The video also carries a horrific scene of beheading of a soldier who they claimed belonged to the Pakistan Army. A newly appointed commander of IS read out charges in Pashto, giving the name of the soldier who was sitting on a green lawn on his knees with uncovered head.

Nearly 100 Taliban and their ‘commanders’, some of them riding horses and some walking past, carry black flag.

Before taking the joint oath Shahidullah Shahid announced names of so-called ‘commanders’ for different areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. He declared Hafiz Saeed Orakzai head of IS for the self-styled Khurasan region, meaning Pakistan, Afghanistan and some adjoining regions.

Shahid was expelled from the TTP last year when he along with five other ‘commanders’ declared allegiance to Baghdadi.

He announced names of ‘commanders’ from different areas and their so-called Shura of Khurasan region. ‘Commander’ Gul Bali for Bajaur, Huzaifa for Dir, Ghulam Rasool for Waziristan, Qari Haroon for Kunar (Afghanistan), Abu Abdullah for Nangarhar (Afghanistan), Gul Zaman Fatih for Khyber Agency, Umar Mansoor Saad Emarati for Logar (Afghanistan), Hafiz Dawlat for Kurram Agency, Khalid Mansoor for Hangu and Mufti Hassan for Peshawar.

Shahid also named a former detainee of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Sheikh Muslim Dost, who is an Afghan national, a member of Shura.

After the joint oath, a self-styled commander brandishing a sword said in Pashto that it was blessing of God that a ‘Khalifa’ was created among us, who fulfilled all conditions of being appointed as caliph. Later, the militants resorted to intense jubilation firing.

Published in Dawn January 12th , 2014

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