Based on the voice recording which emerged on video sharing website YouTube on Sunday, militants in Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria regions have all pledged allegiance to ISIL leader Ibrahim al-Samarrai aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, AFP reported on Wednesday.
Listing the four Russian regions in the recording both in Arabic and Russian, a male voice says all the militants “of the Caucasus... are united in this decision and there are no disagreements among us on this issue.”
The move was warmly welcomed by the terror group, with Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, an ISIL spokesman, naming a local militant as the group’s Caucasus leader.
He said in a recording of his own that Baghdadi accepts the allegiance and “names Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Qadari as (governor) of the Caucasus.”
Reports identified Qadari as Rustam Aselderov, a militant who swore fealty to ISIL in December 2014.