CAIRO: A senior operative in Yemen’s al-Qaida affiliate has condemned the recent bombings of local Shiite mosques by the Islamic State group.
Both al-Qaida and the Islamic State group regard Shiite Muslims as apostates. But in a video released early Friday, Khaled Batarfi said that al-Qaida leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri had both banned the practice of attacking mosques.
The IS group has claimed responsibility for two bombings outside Shiite mosques that killed more than 20 people, saying the attacks were a blow against the Shiite rebels who control the capital, Sanaa. Batarfi said the bombings, “killed far more Sunnis than Shiites.”