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Al-Qaeda Splinter Declares New Islamic Caliphate
(AP-ABC News) Ryan Lucas - ISIS - the al-Qaeda breakaway group that has seized much of Syria and Iraq - on Sunday formally declared the establishment of a new Islamic state, demanding allegiance from Muslims worldwide. But the declaration, made on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, could trigger a wave of infighting among the Sunni militant factions. The spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant declared the group's chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as the leader of the new caliphate, or Islamic state. "Listen to your caliph and obey him. Support your state, which grows every day," said ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, in an audio statement posted online. He said that with the establishment of the caliphate, the group was changing its name to just the Islamic State.