An Isis blooper video has emerged in which a member of the terrorist group is repeatedly interrupted by a loudly squawking bird.
The clip, posted to Twitter by Oxford University academic Elisabeth Kendall, shows a man, identified as Abu Muhammad al-Adeni, speaking to the camera.
As he attempts to renew his allegiance to Isis, he is repeatedly interrupted by a noisy bird, off camera, calling out and making his words hard to hear.
He is seen checking his notes, with Dr Kendall noting in her tweet:
“Leader's feeble memory adds to the woes…"
According to Dr Kendall, an expert in the Middle East at Pembroke College, Oxford, the blooper-free version of the video was taken in Yemen as long ago as September 2017.
Dr Kendall told the PA news agency:
“He addresses the caliph directly: 'To our master, our innermost heart, our crowning glory, the commander of the faithful, the caliph of Muslims, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Qurayshi al-Husayni'."
The outtakes were released this week by al-Qaeda, who Dr Kendall tweeted “likely found it when they overran the #ISIS camp in Qayfa #Yemen this summer", probably in an attempt to undermine and belittle the terror group.
Dr Kendall said:
“Isis tend to make much slicker media products than al-Qaeda."
"But in Yemen at least, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is far better tuned to local populations and has been entrenched for much longer."
"Isis can't uproot it or replace it. Al-Qaeda's output may be earthy and primitive, but it is more authentic and less foreign than that of Isis."
“AQAP mocks Isis as trying to be too 'Hollywood'."
As for the bird, it seems the story may not have had a happy ending.
Dr Kendall tweeted:
“The final #ISIS cut of their shambolic pledge video ended with the jihadists huddled around a cooking pot, so I fear our heroic bird didn't make it."
@kellyrowland/Instagram
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
