Yemen Al Qaeda's Leader Slams IS for Being "Un-Islamic"

A senior leader of the Yemeni affiliate of al Qaeda has condemned the beheadings carried out by the Islamic State (IS) militants as "un-Islamic" and also stated that al Qaeda has banned such acts that shame Islam.

IS is an offshoot of the al Qaeda network that has taken over major parts of Iraq and Syria by establishing themselves through military victories over government troops and former Islamist allies, and by carrying out violence on a large scale against civilians.

IS fighters have filmed the beheadings of many of its prisoners and have posted the footage on the internet to terrorize people.

"There is no doubt that some of our brothers have been influenced by scenes of beheadings which have proliferated lately," Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), said in video posted on Twitter. Al-Ansi did not mention Islamic State by name in the video.

Al-Ansi had posted the video in response to some questions by mediapersons on the group's Twitter account, CTV News reports.

"These are scenes which we do not accept and we strongly reject. Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him and upon his family, has ordered us to be kind in everything, even in killing, and it is not part of kindness to film beheadings and slayings and publish them in public, where sons and daughters of those killed can see," he said in Arabic, Reuters reports.

"These are some of the ugliest matters," he added.

AQAP also has a reputation of being one of the most dangerous terrorist groups.  It has attacked security forces in Yemen, and government facilities and Western targets in the Arabian Peninsula country.

Over time, the United States has been able to successful in killing a number of AQAP leaders and other member with its drone strikes. The drone strikes drew criticism for killing civilians. In response to the drone strikes, al-Ansi said that such attacks were only "increasing Muslims' sympathy for us".