ISIS is now training members of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, one of the deadliest terror groups operating out of the Sinai Peninsula, according to the Reuters news agency.

Confirmation that the militants are extending its influence to Egypt will sound alarm bells in Cairo, where the authorities are already facing a security challenge from home-grown militants.

A senior commander from the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis, which has killed hundreds of members of the Egyptian security forces over the last year, said militants have provided instructions on how to operate more effectively.

The report suggests that the Sinai-based jihadists have learned how to establish cells and facilitate their communications using training received from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The spread of ISIS beyond the borders of Iraq and Syria continues as the United States attempts to coalesce Western and Arab states into a united force against the terrorist organization. Reportedly, Arab leaders have been skeptical of such an alliance.

Governments across the region are pressing the Obama administration to make clear what military, financial and diplomatic measures it is preparing to take against Islamic State before they sign on to any U.S.-led coalition, said senior U.S. and Arab officials.

Leading states, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, also are seeking a White House pledge to more aggressively pursue Islamist militias in other countries, in particular Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. The self-declared Islamic State, which also is known as ISIS or ISIL, hold territory straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border.

[Photo: David Katz]