Al-Qaida chief declares war on ISIS

ISIS and al-Qaida are at war.

Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri sent out an audio message saying ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is guilty of "sedition" and must be stopped.

He's declared war on ISIS, Breitbart reported.

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ISIS, which was an offshoot of al-Qaida, has been fighting to wrest control of Afghanistan from Taliban and al-Qaida forces. Meanwhile, al-Baghdadi has declared himself the "caliph" and demanded followers of Islam vow loyalty.

Al-Zawahiri, who recently swore allegiance to Mullah Akhtar, the new Taliban leader, sees Akhtar's now-deceased predecessor, Mullar Omar, as the true "caliph," however.

In the audio file, al-Zawahiri referred to the battles between ISIS and an al-Qaida group in Syria and said: "We preferred to respond with as little as possible, out of our concern to extinguish the fire of sedition. But Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his brothers did not leave us a choice, for they have demanded that all the mujahideen reject their confirmed pledges of allegiance, and to pledge allegiance to them for what they claim of a caliphate."

He called al-Baghdadi's proclamation as a "surprise," absent any consultation with other Muslims.

While military and intelligence agents see potential to exploit the rift between ISIS and al-Qaida to advance democracy, the audio seems to throw a kink in those plans.

Al-Zawahiri also said in the clip his anger with al-Baghdadi could be set aside for common causes.

The free WND special report “ISIS Rising,” by Middle East expert and former Department of Defense analyst Michael Maloof, will answer your questions about the jihadist army threatening the West.

"We don't recognize this caliphate," he said, Breitbart reported. "[But] despite the big mistakes [of ISIS], if I were in Iraq or Syria I would cooperate with them in killing the Crusaders and secularists and Shiites even though I don't recognize the legitimacy of their state, because the matter is bigger than that."

ISIS, meanwhile, calls al-Qaida a "drowned entity" in the latest publication of its magazine, Dabiq.