27-04-2024 11:35 AM Jerusalem Timing

Video Emerges of Paris Gunman Pledging Allegiance to ISIL

Video Emerges of Paris Gunman Pledging Allegiance to ISIL

A video has emerged online of Paris gunman pledging allegiance to ISIL, the Takfiri group operating in Syria and Iraq.

A video has emerged online of Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed a policewoman on Thursday in Paris and another four people in a kosher supermarket in Vincennes on Friday, pledging allegiance to ISIL, the Takfiri group operating in Syria and Iraq.Video Emerges of Paris Gunman Pledging Allegiance to ISIL

Entitled 'soldier of the Caliphate", the film shows Coulibaly, referred to as Aboü Bassir AbdAllah al-Ifriqip, preparing his strike by doing push ups in what looks like a prison courtyard, and filming a cache of weapons.

At one stage appearing in military body armor, Coulibaly speaks in the past tense, suggesting the recording took place after he had gunned down a policewoman on Thursday and before his attack on Friday.

In the background, the radio appears to be announcing the news of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, which took place on Wednesday and killed 11 people including eight journalists from the satirical weekly.
It is not clear who filmed and edited the video.

Asked whether he has any link to the Charlie Hebdo attackers, Cherif and Saïd Kouachi, he says: “The brothers of our team were split into two groups…I went out a bit against the police.

“If we did things a bit together and a bit separately it was to have more impact."

Apparently speaking about one of the Kouachi brothers behind the Charlie Hebdo attack, he said: "I helped him in his project by giving him a few thousand euros so he could finish off what he had bought. We manage to synchronise to go out at the same time so we don’t cause each other any problems as we are sought of over the same affair."

Coulibaly appears in various guises - a keffir, a military jacket, a white robe. Speaking directly to camera, he swears allegiance to “Caliiph Ibrahim”, also known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-proclaimed leader of ISIL, with the black flag in the background.

He speaks in French and pidgin Arabic, reading from a text, often tripping up on words.
He said he "swore allegiance as soon as the Caliphate was declared".