(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Pakistani Taliban yesterday denied reports at the weekend that it had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State movement fighting in Syria and Iraq, saying that its statement to the media had been misinterpreted.
The group's spokesman Shahid Shahidullah said that a statement on Saturday had been intended as an expression of support for all Islamist militants fighting in Syria and Iraq and struggling against Western interests.
"Some media did not publish our statement correctly," Shahidullah said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
"We are not supporting any specific group in Syria or Iraq; all groups there are noble and they are our brothers."
On Saturday, Shahidullah said the Taliban would offer 'every possible support' to Islamic State, a statement which several media outlets, including Reuters, reported as a declaration of allegiance to the group.
Islamic State has seized swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and earned notoriety for its brutality, including beheadings and crucifixions.
An alliance between the Taliban and Islamic State would have represented a significant expansion of Islamic State's reach and a further challenge to Western powers already struggling to contain Islamic State in the Middle East.
But yesterday, Shahidullah said the Pakistani Taliban continued to align itself with Mullah Omar, the elusive one-eyed leader of the Afghan Taliban.
"Mullah Omar is our head and we are following him," he said.
Omar is close to some of Al Qaeda's most senior leaders. Analysts say that Islamic State and Al Qaeda, which masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, are in direct competition for fighters and funds.
"People trying to talk to Syria (Islamic Front) instead of Mullah Omar are not going to find much sympathy in the Taliban community," said Saifullah Mahsud of the FATA Research Centre, an Islamabad-based think-tank with extensive Taliban contacts.
An Islamic state is a type of government, in which the primary basis for government is Islamic religious law (Shariah).
From the early years of Islam, numerous governments have been founded as 'Islamic', beginning most notably with the caliphate established by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad and including subsequent governments ruled under the direction of a caliph (meaning "successor" to Muhammad).
However, the term 'Islamic state' has taken on a more specific modern connotation since the 20th century.
The concept of the modern Islamic state has been articulated and promoted by ideologues such as Abul A'la Maududi, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Israr Ahmed, and Sayyid Qutb.
Like the earlier notion of the caliphate, the modern Islamic state is rooted in Islamic law. It is modelled after the rule of Muhammad.
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