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Jihadist terrorists in Egypt claim they have beheaded four men, in a video that echoes the rhetoric and tactics of the Islamic State (Isis) – the group that has declared a caliphate across large parts of Iraq and Syria.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (ABM), a group of extremists based in Egypt's northern Sinai desert, released a video showing their members decapitating four local men they had accused of feeding information to Israeli troops, helping them to fire on their positions.
ABM has waged an insurgency against Egyptian authorities since the overthrow of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July, laying claim to the deaths of dozens of police and soldiers, and to attacks on police headquarters in Cairo and the northern city of Mansoura.
They have also been accused of firing rockets at targets across the border in Israel during the recent Gaza conflict, allegedly attacks that saw the Israeli army return fire.
The Israelis, ABM claims, were aided by tipoffs from locals in Sinai. "God helped your mujahideen brothers in Ansar Beit al-Maqdis to discover a spy cell working for the Israeli Mossad against the mujahideen," a masked extremist says in the 30-minute video studded with sectarian rhetoric.
"We didn't and we won't forget what you have done with to the Muslim women and children in Gaza. Everyone is not the same: our dead are in heaven and yours are in hell."
ABM are not a declared part of Isis, and have been linked previously to al-Qaida, from whom Isis split earlier this year.
Its intentions and leadership structures are still largely unknown but ABM's members could be leaning towards declaring themselves an Isis franchise, according to an expert on jihadist internet activity who has interviewed Egyptians returning from fighting with Isis in Syria.
"In Ansar Beit el-Maqdis there are two types of members," said Lotfy Salman. "There are people who support al-Qaida, and people who support Da'ash [the Arabic nickname for Isis].
"The group hasn't declared themselves yet. But I've interviewed people, and I've seen people on jihadist forums, who say they're Isis."
Additional reporting: Manu Abdo
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