The Islamic State’s fighters have withdrawn from their positions on the outskirts of Derna, Libya. The so-called “caliphate” faced stiff opposition from pro-al Qaeda jihadist groups in the city.

The photographs show the fighters “graduating from the mujahideen training camps to join their brothers in the battlefronts in order to complete the journey of jihad.”

The group, which was involved in the assassination of the US ambassador and three American in Benghazi last year, distributed sheep to honor the captured al Qaeda operative.

Additionally, the jihadist group praises Syria as “the land of jihad and epics, in particular, whose jihad is still continuing against all the forces of falsehood.”
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Matthew Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said that a “number of different elements,” including some linked to al Qaeda, were involved.
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The group claimed it “didn’t participate as a sole entity,” but instead the attack “was a spontaneous popular uprising.”
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