But as those militants embraced the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, they have gradually set aside that lesson. The Islamic State said the cleric, said to be 100 years old, had been killed for practicing witchcraft. Residents said that despite recent Islamic State threats, the town had been largely peaceful. Elsewhere, the Islamic State has made a spectacle of bulldozing Sufi shrines, describing their removal as a form of purifying the faith. In a statement, Hamas denounced the attack as a “criminal explosion” that “violates all heavenly commandments and human values” because it attacked a mosque.

Source: New York Times November 24, 2017 13:18 UTC