Al-Qaeda sets up Jihadists group in India

An Indian arm of al-Qaeda has purportedly been created in India to expand the group’s operations across South Asia.

This was revealed in a 55-minute online video message by al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who also pledged renewed loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar. His pledge has been seen as a snub to a challenge from ISIS.

ISIS is challenging al-Qaeda to lead worldwide Islamist militancy.

Announcing the formation of “al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent” using a mixture of his native Arabic and Urdu widely spoken in Pakistan, Zawahiri appeared eager to regain some of the limelight, correspondents say.

Speaking a mixture of Arabic and Paskistani language, Urdu, Zawahiri said: “[al-Qaeda] is an entity that was formed to promulgate the call of the reviving imam, Sheikh Osama Bin Laden. May Allah have mercy upon him”.

He urged Muslims in the region to “wage jihad against its enemies, to liberate its land, to restore its sovereignty and to revive its caliphate”.

Zawahiri said “al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent” would be good news for Muslims in Burma, Bangladesh and in the Indian states of Assam, Gujarat, and Jammu and Kashmir, where they would be rescued from injustice and oppression.

“Our brothers in Burma, Kashmir, Islamabad, Bangladesh; we did not forget you in AQ and will liberate you form injustice and oppression” he said.

Counter-terrorism experts say al-Qaeda’s ageing leadership is vying with IS to recruit followers after the success of militants in the Middle East in attracting young followers worldwide by conquering large amounts of territory across Iraq and Syria.