The head of the Islamic Institute in Cairo, Al-Azhar, said Monday that "jihadists" of ISIL were "criminals" serving a "Zionist" plot to "destroy the Arab world."

The head of the Islamic Institute in Cairo, Al-Azhar, said Monday that "jihadists" of ISIL were "criminals" serving a "Zionist" plot to "destroy the Arab world."

"These criminals have been able to transmit to the world a tarnished and alarming image of Muslims," Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb said.

"These fundamentalist terrorist groups, whatever their names, and their backers are colonial creations that serve Zionism in its plot to destroy the Arab world."