A jihadi group in eastern Libya which is linked to al-Qaeda has captured and executed a local commander of the rival Islamic State, forcing him to do a "Game of Thrones-style" walk-of-shame through the Libyan city of Derna before he was hanged to death.
The group, called the Mujahideen Shura Council which was formed just last year, reportedly executed the Iraqi ISIS commander named Abu-Ali al-Anbari in Derna in mid-June after he was captured while trying to establish an ISIS branch in Libya upon the order of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, reports said.
Al-Anbari, a former al-Qaeda operative, was reportedly tasked with merging ISIS with local jihadist groups in Libya to boost their strength amid the ongoing anti-terror campaign in the neighbouring states of Egypt, Mali and Tunisia.
However, anti-terror experts said the Mujahideen Shura Council apparently saw the ISIS move as a threat to its own existence since the two groups are fighting over control of the strategically important city of Derna.
ISIS is reportedly raking in money from the smuggling of people leaving Libya bound for Europe.
Al-Anbari's execution, anti-terror experts said, was meant to deter followers of the rival jihadi group from joining ISIS as it copied the ISIS tactic of producing gruesome execution videos for propaganda purposes.
A source from The Daily Beast said before al-Albari was executed, he was paraded through the streets of Derna with onlookers taunting him, "Cersei Lannister-style."
Cersei Lannister (played by Lena Headey) is one of the leading characters in the popular HBO TV fantasy-drama series "Game of Thrones." In the show's dramatic Season 5 finale titled "Mother's Mercy" shown last June 14, Cersei was forced to strip off by the High Sparrow priest as "atonement" for her sins. Her hair was cut short and she was forced to walk naked from the High Sparrow's camp to her family's royal castle. As she walks, she is jeered and pelted with trash and excrement by the angry crowd, breaking down in tears when she finally returns to the castle.
However, Cersei survives the ordeal, unlike what happened to the condemned ISIS commander who was hanged after his own "walk of shame."
Terrorism expert said the rival jihadi group with links to al-Qaeda intended to send a powerful message to the ISIS leadership with al-Anbari's public humiliation and execution.
The ISIS "is all about messaging strength and projecting strength and basically showing they're an unstoppable force," said Thomas Joscelyn, a terrorism expert and editor of the Long War Journal. "Here's an example where they lost."
