CAIRO, Nov 4 (Aswat Masriya) – A twitter account that claims to belong to Sinai-based militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis denied on Tuesday pledging allegiance to the Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq. The announcement comes hours after other twitter accounts believed to be associated with the militant Islamic movement had published a statement allegedly signed by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis pledged allegiance to the “emir” of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Aswat Masriya could not independently confirm which of these conflicting accounts truly represents Ansar’s position. The group has been using different accounts at different times and some of them have been closed at various points. However it seems that the denial carries more weight as one of the accounts that originally published the statement later deleted it and published the denial. Egypt’s security forces have intensified their measures in North Sinai in reaction to repeated militant attacks that target army and police officials, which rose significantly since the ouster of last year. The attacks soon expanded to other areas of the country, including the capital. At least 30 military personnel were killed in a suicide blast which targeted…
