Al-Qaeda in Yemen has labelled its extremist rival, the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), "deviant" and distanced itself from an ISIL-claimed suicide attack in Aden last week, AFP reported Thursday (December 15th).
"We explicitly declare that we were not involved in any way in this operation," Ansar al-Sharia, al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, said in a statement.
The December 10th attack targeted a crowd of soldiers gathered to collect their monthly pay at a barracks in al-Sawlaban near the city's international airport, killing 48 soldiers and wounding 29.
"We see ISIL as a deviant group... that has shown its enmity towards Ansar al-Sharia" and other groups, the statement said.
Al-Qaeda and rival ISIL have exploited Yemen's ongoing conflict to bolster their presence across much of the south.
