ISIS is believed to have activated its sleeping cells in India. The militant organization had claimed a significant presence across India.
Indian media reports have claimed the police have arrested two men accused of beheading the target, filing the entire episode on camera and sending it to the handler. Reports suggested two men were arrested by Delhi Police after they beheaded a man, filmed it, and sent the video to their handler who allegedly has links to ISIS.
The two accused, 56-year-old Naushad and 29-year-old Jagjit Singh are believed to have shot a 37-second video of the killing before disposing of the victim’s body in several pieces. Police found some of the pieces in Delhi’s Bhalswa Dairy area. The murder occurred on December 14-15, police suspect.
Naushad and Jagjit, Investigators said, were inspired by ISIS, and made the video to ‘prove allegiance’ to one of their handlers.
According to Indian media reports, Naushad had been in touch with handlers since 2000. The accused allegedly met Jagjit in a later stint in jail. Jagjit is allegedly linked to Canada-based gangster Arshdeep Singh Gill.
Analysts believe ISIS has activated its sleeping cells across India and the coming days could bring catastrophe in big cities including Banglore, Dehli, and Mumbai.
Amidst the death threats issued to Nupur Sharma over her innocuous remarks on Prophet Muhammad, ISIS released a 10-minute video about India last year in June 2022. Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) is an affiliate of ISIS that functions in South East Asia and Central Asia.
In the video titled, ‘The polytheists are the brothers of the polytheists’, ISIS had threatened to attack Hindus over the ongoing blasphemy row and demolition of a part of a mosque in the Jahangirpuri area of Delhi.
An independent news handle, the Khorasan Diary, wrote, “Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP) has begun a news bulletin service through its mouthpiece AlAzaim foundation. The first news bulletin is focused on India and the issue of blasphemy.”
Media reports suggest the ISKP is an offshoot of the Islamic State terror group that operates in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. Khorasan refers to a historical region comprising Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, the territories once controlled by a caliphate.
ISKP operates from the eastern province of Nangarhar, strategically located between the drug and of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The terrorist group was first formed in 2015 after several dissatisfied fighters of the Afghan Taliban and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan joined the Islamic State, swearing to create a caliphate.
It also influenced several students in madrasas in Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan, who traveled to the war-torn country to join the most extreme jihadist terrorist groups in the world.
Al-Qaeda threatened India with suicide attacks
According to Indian media reports, on June 6 last year, another dreaded terrorist group, Al Qaeda, issued a letter threatening suicide attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat to “fight for the honor of the Prophet”.
It warned, “We shall kill those who affront our Prophet and we shall bind explosives with our bodies and the bodies of our children to blow away the ranks of those who dare to dishonor our Prophet.” The letter went on to say that Hindutva terrorists were currently occupying India.
Al Qaeda further warned, “We say with the help of Allah the almighty, the saffron terrorists should now await their end in Delhi, Bombay, UP, and Gujarat. They shall find refuge neither in their homes nor in their fortified army cantonments. May our mothers be bereaved of us, if we do not avenge our beloved Prophet.”
