An Al-Qaeda splinter group in Syria has denied it was behind the killing of a prominent Al-Qaeda figure last week and appeared to reject an ultimatum from rival fighters to accept mediation or face all-out assault.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) was responding to the killing last Sunday of Abu Khaled al-Soury, who was close to both Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and his predecessor Osama bin Laden.
Rival Islamist fighters blamed ISIS, locked in conflict for more than a year with other rebels battling to overthrow President Bashar Assad, for Soury's death.
Two days after his killing, the head of Al-Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, warned ISIS militants to accept the arbitration of Muslim scholars within five days to end their infighting or face a war which would wipe them out.
That deadline has expired.
"We did not order Abu Khaled's killing nor were we ordered to. We were completely cut off from the area he was in," ISIS said in a statement dated Saturday and posted on Islamist Internet sites.
"We affirm that the decisions and stances of the Islamic State are only issued by our leader...(Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi, may God protect him, and from the Shura Committee. Not from individual scholars or soldiers."
The Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) was responding to the killing last Sunday of Abu Khaled al-Soury, who was close to both Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and his predecessor Osama bin Laden.
Rival Islamist fighters blamed ISIS, locked in conflict for more than a year with other rebels battling to overthrow President Bashar Assad, for Soury's death.
Two days after his killing, the head of Al-Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, warned ISIS militants to accept the arbitration of Muslim scholars within five days to end their infighting or face a war which would wipe them out.
That deadline has expired.
"We did not order Abu Khaled's killing nor were we ordered to. We were completely cut off from the area he was in," ISIS said in a statement dated Saturday and posted on Islamist Internet sites.
"We affirm that the decisions and stances of the Islamic State are only issued by our leader...(Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi, may God protect him, and from the Shura Committee. Not from individual scholars or soldiers."
