States on Alert after Al Qaeda Announces Indian Wing: 10 Latest Developments

Al Qaeda leader Zawahri’s announcement also made two references to Gujarat.

1. In the video posted online, al Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahri
   promised to spread Islamic rule and “raise the flag of jihad” across
   the “Indian subcontinent”.    The 55-minute video which
   announces the creation of the group called “Qaedat al-Jihad in the
   Indian Subcontinent” was posted on social media outlets including You
   Tube.
2. The government believes the video is authentic; it has
   asked the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to verify details like where the
   video was uploaded within a day or two.
3. In it, Zawahiri singles
   out Assam, Gujarat and Kashmir — states with large Muslim populations
   — along with Bangladesh and Myanmar, as territories targeted by the new
   organization.
4. The video speech makes two references to Gujarat,
   the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, long considered a
   target for Islamist militant groups because of the communal riots which
   took place during his first term as chief minister of the state in 2002.
   More than 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed.
5. “In the
   wake of this al Qaeda video, we will be on a higher alert. We will work
   closely with the central government to tackle any threat posed to the
   state,” SK Nanda, the most senior bureaucrat in the home department of
   Gujarat, told news agency Reuters. A high security alert in the state
   involves activating informer networks in sensitive areas.
6. The
   timing and content of the video suggests rivalry between al Qaeda and
   its more vigorous rival in Syria and Iraq, Islamic State, which
   anecdotal evidence suggests is gathering support in South Asia.
7. Intelligence
   officials say that in recent months, there have been reports that some
   members of the Indian Mujahideen,   who are based in Pakistan,
   are now showing signs of breaking away from Mujahideen and are
   affiliating with Al Qaida.  
8. Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal, who was arrested last year by India, has allegedly confirmed this to interrogators.
9. The
   Indian Mujahideen was launched in India by the Pakistani terror group
   Lashkar-e-Taiba and is responsible for some of the worst recent terror
   attacks in recent years in the country.
10. A recently-released
    video by this breakway group of the Mujahideen shows one of its leaders,
    Sheikh Armar, originally from Hyderabad, talking about fighters being
    trained in Afghanistan and then being sent to India.

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