Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt’s most active terrorist group, has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS), Reuters reported on Monday.
The group had previously told Reuters that it sought inspiration and advice from Islamic State, which has taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria.
“After entrusting God we decided to swear allegiance to the emir of the faithful Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, caliph of the Muslims in Syria and Iraq and in other countries,” the group said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police over the last year, since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, and beheaded several people in recent weeks, in acts similar to those of ISIS which regularly beheads hostages.
Among the attacks claimed by the group since the ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was the assassination of a top Egyptian police general, who was gunned down as he left his home in a west Cairo neighborhood, and a bus bombing on a tour bus filled with South Korean tourists in the Sinai.
The group has also claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks that targeted the Israeli resort city of Eilat.
Egypt has claimed that Ansar has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and, on this basis, blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The Brotherhood has denied any links to terrorist attacks.