The former Pakistani Taliban leaders who have announced their allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISSI) on Saturday released a video purportedly showing the beheading of a man whom they identify as a Pakistani military soldier.
According to the SITE Inteligence Group, the video was released by ISIS on Twitter and Jihadi forums, showing the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP’s) former spokesman Shahidullah Shahid along with dozens of other militants in a wooded area.
SITE Intelligence Group is a US-based terrorism monitor which offers a variety of services to assist in monitoring and understanding jihadist news and trends.
The video released on Saturday also purports to show militant leaders who identify themselves as from Afghanistan and Pakistan pledging their support to the Islamic State group.
This comes as the residents of soutehrn Helmand province of Afghanistan have said that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has started operations in this province.
According to the local resients the group is led by a local commander identified as Abdul Rauf are operting in Zamin Dawar area of Sangin and also parts of Kajaki district.
The security institutions in Afghanistan have not independently confirmed the operations of ISIS in Afghanistan. However, insurgents belonging to a faction of the Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said earlier in September last year that they consider to join the Islamic State militants who are currently fighting in Syria and Iraq.
This comes as a notorious anti-government armed militant commander who is believed to have links with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), was also arrested by Afghan security forces in Paktia province earlier in December last year.
