Assalamu Alaikum,

Is this news right? Has anyone got a copy of the statement mentioned to confirm it?

The Group Who Came In From The Heat | Libyan_Islamic_Fighting_Group | Tim_Marshall | Colonel_Gadaffi | Foreign Matters | Sky News Blogs
The Group Who Came In From The Heat

The group is the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). The name might have echoes of the People Front of Judea etc, but unlike Monty Pythons gang of blithering idiots, these guys have a successful track record in killing in the name of God. However, after 20 murderous years they’ve come to the conclusion that all that blowing up civilians might not actually be very Islamic. This could have a knock on effect in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is part of the of the long intellectual war being fought parallel to the war of violence.
The LIGF has members in the UK, some are in prison, some on control orders and some running around London. The group is primarily aimed at overthrowing the Ghdaffi regime, but branched out into international terrorism.
This month the London based al-Quds newspaper published an interview with a ’former leader’ of the group in which he outlines their new approach and said the UK members backed it.
In broad terms the LIFG now rejects its 2007 ‘merger’ with Al Queda,(AQ) it rejects violence to further political aims, and says violent jihadist practices such as targeting civilians and destroying property are are un Islamic.
So far so Libyan local. Where this gets more interesting is with the LIFG’s connection in Afghanistan and Pakistan where some members are senior figures in AQ and many have links with the Taliban on both sides of the border. Students of the Afghan war might remember Abu Al-Libi whose face used to grace numerous AQ videos until he was killed last year.
We can only guess at the impact of the LIFG statement on AQ, but it strikes a blow at the organizations hopes to bring all the worlds revolutionary Islamic movements under its leadership. The theological argument about what is un-Islamic will hurt both AQ and the Taliban. It plays into an ongoing debate with the Islamic world and within Islam extremism, about what is and is not permissible.
A well known Egyptian dissident theologian is currently debating online with the AQ number two Al Zawahiri from within his prison cell and is thought to having huge intellectual influence throught the Middle East. In Pakistan more and more religious figures are speaking out at the tactics used by the Taliban.
The intellectual war will continue for as long as the kinetic one, they are inexorably linked, but this month a small battle was won against the philosophy which supports deliberate barbarity aimed at ordinary people.