Islamic State : The Resurrection IS Claims : Established Province in India

Birendra Shandilya, Wepen, May 12, 2019: Is the ISIS trying to make a comeback with the Indian sub continent being the next target?

The Islamic State on Friday ( May 10, 2019) claimed for the first time that it has “established a province in India.” This comes on the wake of a militant with alleged ties with the outfit being gunned down in India by security forces.

Reuters reports that the Amaq News Agency, a news outlet linked to the ISIS, announced the new province is called the “Wilayah of Hind.” It further claimed that the Islamic State had inflicted casualties on Indian soldiers in Amshipora in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir.

On Friday Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi, the commander of the IS in Jammu and Kashmir was killed in an encounter in the Ram Nagri area of Herpora, Shopian in South Kashmir. He was believed to be the last standing member of the dreaded outfit in Kashmir.

“The establishment of a province in a region where it has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd but should not be written off” stated Rita Katz, Director of SITE Intel Group. The Intel Group tracks Islamic extremist outfits and their activities.

“The world may roll its eyes at these developments, but to jihadists in these vulnerable regions, these are significant gestures to help lay the groundwork in rebuilding the IS “Caliphate,” warned Katz.

Ever since the deadly attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka during Easters that left around 253 dead and 500 injured for which the ISIS had claimed responsibility, there are reports of heightened ISIS activity specially in the Indian sub continent region.

A video claimed to be from ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has started doing the rounds. al-Furquan the media wing of ISIS uploaded a video recently.

The April 29 video released of Abu Bakr Baghdadi comes after a long gap. The first video had been uploaded on July 5, 2014 where he is seen delivering a sermon as the Calipha from the Al Nuri Mosque in Mosul, Iraq.

Abu Bakr Baghdadi

Since then the supreme leader of the ISIS has remained incommunicado.

In the recent video Baghdadi is shown sitting with ISIS commanders sporting masks. He is shown discussing different global issues. He goes on to praise successful attacks carried out by “brothers” in Sri Lanka thereby avenging the loss of Baghouz on 23 March this year. Baghouz was the last standing bastion of the Caliphate in Syria.

After 2016 this is the first video being published by al-Fukran Media Foundation. The Foundation is credited to have published very important and authentic releases from ISIS.
Abu Bakr Baghdadi

The US led coalition fighting the ISIS is trying to independently verify the authenticity of the video. SITE has provided a translation of the video in which Baghdadi is shown sitting cross-legged on the floor with an assault rifle states “Our battle today is a battle of attrition, and we will prolong it for the enemy: they must know that the Jihad will continue till Judgement Day.”

Defence and Intelligence agencies are of the opinion that despite laying low and off the grid since long Baghdadi has been compelled to make an appearance to show that is alive and in good health contrary to reports.

In June 2017, Russia had claimed that Baghdadi had been killed in an airstrike near Raqqa, Syria. Even the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights had reported that Baghdadi had lost his life.

“He is just sending across the message that he is alive and kicking. He is also reasserting his leadership and command” stated Colin P Clarke, senior fellow of the Soufan Centre talking to The New York Times.

When American troops had pulled out of Iraq declaring the defeat of the ISIS in 2011, the estimated strength of ISIS as estimated by CIA was around 700.

At present the ISIS has tens thousands of fighters and is present in Iran and Syria as per General Joseph Votel, the US General who oversees operations in the Middle East.

ISIS also exercises control over Khorosan province; Philipines and a province of West Africa. The organization is expanding base and growing in Afganistan.

Baghdadi’s location is not known. Multiple agencies are on a hunt for him. Some claim that he is hiding in the desert along the Iraq-Syria border without leaving any electronic footprints.

What is ISIS?

The ISIS started as a splinter group of al Quaeda.  The outfit aims at creation of an Islamic State called the Caliphate comprising of Iraq, Syria and beyond. It is also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL.)

The group imposes the Sharia law. In June 29, 2004 ISIS had announced the creation of the Caliphate thereby erasing all state borders announcing Baghdadi the self declared authority over the global 1.5 billion Muslim population. It then changed name to Islamic State (IS.) The US then steps up operation against the ISIS.

In 2014 ISIS controlled more than 34,000 sq miles in Iraq and Syria. The Caliphate extended from the Mediterranean coast to south of Baghdad. In 2015 according to a United States report the ISIS was believed to be holding 3500 people as slaves.

War, proxy war, terrorist activities continue down the years with the Syrian Democratic Forces finally announcing that ISIS has lost its final stronghold in Syria on march 23, 2019 thereby bringing to an end the self declaration of the Caliphate of 2014.

Since declaration of the Caliphate, the ISIS has conducted more than 145 terrorist attacks in more than 30 countries killing around 2500 people and injuring thousands.

What is the present modus operandi of the ISIS?

Having lost control of Iraq and Syria, ISIS is eyeing greener pastures. They are now concentrating on using “front groups” from these countries to wage a proxy warfare. Providing training, logistics it has managed to carry out precision attacks globally using these lesser heard of front organization.

Why the Indian subcontinent now?

It is easier for the ISIS with ample targets and a low-threat region. Foreigners visit these regions as tourists and hence can be made easy targets. The region has a heterogeneous religious population and there are many such outfits operating in these regions that fit the ISIS bill. In certain parts of India like Kashmir there are separatist forces at play which makes the region vulnerable. It can be easily converted into a spawning ground for the ISIS.

The Sri Lankan model can easily be replicated including the use of groups like National Thowheed Jamat and how they executed the Sri Lanka terror plan. The Thowheed has now been banned by the Sri Lanka Government.

Sri Lankan President Maithiripala Sirisena has asked Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the ISIS to leave Sri Lanka alone after it claimed that the massive suicide bombings was a revenge for the fall of the Syrian town of Baghuz.

The Lankan President stated that the ISIS has adopted a new strategy of targeting smaller countries. He further stated that authorities are aware of a “small group” of Sr Lankans who had travelled abroad to receive training from ISIS.
Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony’s Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. Witnesses are reporting two explosions have hit two churches in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, causing casualties among worshippers. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister, Sri Lanka stated that arrests have been made and arms are being recovered. “We will arrest the rest who were involved in the attacks” he stated. Safe houses have also been destroyed with large cache of explosives, detonators, splinters recovered.

Police suspect the involvement of National Thawheed Jamath and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim of carrying out the attacks.

Sri Lankan Army chief claimed that terrorists who had carried out attacks in Colombo had visited Kerala, Kashmir and Bengaluru for training and also establishing links with other terror groups operating in these regions.

“We are trying to verify the assertions made by the Sri Lankan authorities and are conducting background checks” stated an official.

The Sri Lanka footprints led investigators to Kerala, India. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested one Riyas Aboobacker from Akshaya Nagar Colony in Kambrathchala village, Palakkad, Kerala on April 29 for “conspiring to commit a terrorist act.”

According to NIA the 29 year old has been following speeches and videos of Zaharan Hashim, the mastermind of the Sri Lanka blasts. He wanted to carry out a similar suicide attack on Kerala.

NIA sleuths stated that Riyas was in touch with at least two men from the group of 22 that had left Kerala in 2016 to join the IS in Afganistan.

The NIA has carried out searches at the houses of other two suspects also in Kasaragod. The suspects include Yahiya and Issa (Christian brothers who had converted to Islam and left the country to join the IS (ISIS) as part of a group from Kerala. These two were friends of Riyas (who has been arrested.)

Digital devices including mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards, pen drives DVDs along with diaries written in Arabic and Malayalam have been seized in these raids.

In March 2016, NIA had arrested one Ashiq Ahmed, a 18 year old student of a private polytechnique college in Durgapur, West Bengal, India. During investigations NIA found that Ahmed had active links with the ISIS (Indian chapter) which is affiliated to groups in Syria.

The ISIS had first made its presence felt in Kashmir in 2014. Black flags with the Muslim declaration of faith had emerged during protests in Nowhatta in Srinagar.

However security forces and intelligence agencies in Kashmir had earlier declared that the presence of the ISIS is not formidable in the State. Even on March 11, 2018 when three militants of an ISIS module were killed by security forces, the security forces continued to stick to their claim. The outfit goes under the name of ISJK in the valley.

The ISIS is much active in 18 countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has already set up base in Southeast Asia namely Maldives, Indonesia and Philippines.

It is now trying to make inroads into Bangladesh. According to a news report the ISIS has appointed Abu Muhammed al-bangali as the new “emir” (chief) in Bangladesh.

A poster had recently appeared in Bengali which translated reads “If you think you have silenced the soldiers of the Khalifa in Bengal and Hind, then listen, we men are never to be silenced…and our thirst for revenge will never fade…”

The militant group released the poster just a day after the video message of Baghdadi. A poster in Bengali had also been circulated by pro-IS telegram channels on April 25 stating “Coming Soon” along with a logo of a group called “al Mursalat.”

However Indian security agencies are of the opinion that it is a general e-poster that has been used by the ISIS (Bangladesh Chapter.) The same poster comes ahead of any video or audio on Al Mursalat and Al Munadi media. The poster had last made an appearance in November 2018. Al Mursalat is run by Abu Muhammed al-bangali.

On April 29, 2019, Bangladeshi security forces raided a suspected Islamist extremist den in Dhaka killing at least two militants. The ISIS meanwhile claimed to have wounded three police personnel in an explosion triggered by them. Four people have also been detained in connection with this case.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the explosion, the first ever in two years. The ISIS claimed that they “detonated an explosive device” on a group of police stated the Bangladesh Intelligence Agency. Three policemen were injured in the blast.

Bangladesh had launched a crackdown on this jihadist group since 2016 when ISIS terrorists stormed a café in Dhaka killing 22 people including 18 foreigners.

In March 2017, ISIS claimed responsibility for explosions in the northeastern city of Sylhet. Bangladesh has beefed up security and watch post Sri Lanka attacks.