CAIRO, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's main Jihadist group, Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis, purportedly posted an audio statement online on Monday, claiming it has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) militant group, state-run Ahram-online reported.
The statement, read out by an unidentified speaker and posted on Twitter, said the group decided to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, head of IS, and called on all Egyptians to fight their "unjust" government.
"This shameful peacefulness will not do you good, nor this blasphemous democracy," it said.
However, the veracity of the audio statement cannot be verified independently, Ahram said.
On Nov. 3, some media outlets reported that Ansar Bayt Al- Maqdis had sworn allegiance to IS, but the report was denied by the group the next day.
The al-Qaida-inspired, Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which is blacklisted by Egypt and the United States as a terrorist group, has claimed responsibility for most of the anti-government attacks that killed over 500 security personnel in Egypt.
In late October, the group claimed responsibility for a brazen attack that killed some 30 Egyptian soldiers and injured dozens others in North Sinai.
The group's terrorist activities have extended from the Sinai Peninsula to reach the capital Cairo and other provinces across the country.
Egypt has been facing a wave of violent attacks mainly targeting security personnel since the overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 and subsequent crackdown on his supporters, leaving about 1,000 killed and thousands more arrested.
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