U.S. skeptical of shifts in loyalty to Islamic State from Qaeda

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(Adds comments from U.S. officials) DUBAI/WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - A group of Islamist fighters in Yemen has re**unced loyalty to al Qaeda and pledged allegiance to the head of Islamic State but U.S. officials on Wednesday cast doubt on the significance of the declaration. "It is unclear how credible those reports are and whether they come from a faction of AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) that would have any significance," a U.S. State Department spokesperson said. The an**uncement, in a Twitter message reported by the U.S.-based monitoring group SITE, followed similar declarations by a number of factions or elements of several al Qaeda affiliates around the world. They said it was **t k**wn how much they reflected the views of major groups and said it was unclear whether Islamic State militants wanted to expand their operations beyond territory they are fighting for in Syria and Iraq.

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