IS supporters create Kashmir group to step up presence in India

The IS group -- Ansarul Khilafah Jammu Kashmir -- has put out instructions in Hindi on how attacks could be carried out with large trucks, such as the ones in Nice, France and the German capital Berlin last year, along with potential targets.

At a time when the Islamic State is being squeezed out of its strongholds such as Mosul in Iraq, members and supporters of the group have stepped up efforts to gain a toehold in India by creating a group focussed on Jammu and Kashmir.

An Islamic State banner. There has been an increasing adoption of Islamic State banners and flags by disaffected youngsters of Kashmir during the unrest that followed the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani a year ago.

The group – Ansarul Khilafah Jammu Kashmir – has an active channel on the encrypted messaging service Telegram that is used to disseminate the usual IS propaganda along with manuals for making weapons and planning and carrying out attacks.

In recent weeks, the channel has featured a call to Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel to defy their officers and direct their weapons at the “enemy of Muslims and Islam”. On July 5, the group put out detailed instructions on how IS supporters “on the ground in Kashmir” and “present at the clashes against the Enemies of Islam” could prepare for attacks.

On Monday, the group put out instructions in Hindi on how attacks could be carried out with large trucks, such as the ones in Nice, France and the German capital Berlin last year, along with potential targets.

The group’s emergence has coincided with the increasing adoption of Islamic State banners and flags by disaffected youngsters of Kashmir during the unrest that followed the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani a year ago.

Indian security officials insist the IS has no real presence in the Kashmir Valley and they also point to the fact that the group has not so far claimed responsibility for an attack anywhere in India. However, they acknowledge the group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has no dearth of sympathisers, including in Kashmir.

Amarnath Amarasingam, a senior research fellow at the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue who is one of the world’s leading experts in tracking the IS’ online activity, told Hindustan Times the terror group “definitely has an interest in South Asia, and is trying to plant a stronger hold there”.

An Islamic State banner.

“Whether it happens is another matter. The interest in Kashmir is very old amongst jihadists, just like their interest in Palestine is old. For them, anywhere they see Muslims suffering is a potential theatre of jihad, a place to send help and fight back,” he said.

There is a precedent of IS-linked terrorists in India forming a group named Ansarul Khilafah (soldiers of the caliphate). Last October, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) busted a group of six men from Kerala’s Kannur district who formed “Ansarul Khilafah Kerala” and were using Telegram to coordinate and plot IS-style attacks. The men, led by Manseed alias Omar al-Hindi, were reportedly radicalised online.

Amarasingam said such groups are “usually a mixture” of IS members based in countries such as Syria and disparate sympathisers. “Some groups definitely have people who are in direct communication with IS operatives in Syria, and they often transfer money, share logistics and tactics, and also communicate attack claims for IS to release. Other groups are strictly made up of fanboys,” he added.

On Sunday, the Telegram channel of Ansarul Khilafah Jammu Kashmir was replete with tributes to Sajad Gilkar, a slain terrorist whose body was wrapped in the IS flag at his funeral in Srinagar on Wednesday. It featured a photo of Gilkar standing before a brick wall with the graffiti “ISIS Town” and described him as a mujahid who lived by the “flag of tawhid” (the doctrine of monotheism that defines Islam) even though say he was linked to Hizbul Mujahideen.

Since the group was created on Telegram on June 2, it has shared among its more than 100 members a number of manuals that provide information on handling weapons commonly used by terrorists, such as AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and on making suicide vests and car bombs. These include the “Open Source Jihad Trainer” and the “Book of Terror”.

Other material shared with the aim of inspiring attacks was footage from high-profile terrorist assaults around the world, including CCTV footage from inside the Taj Hotel during the carnage in Mumbai in November 2008.

In its instructions for IS supporters “on the ground in Kashmir” to organise themselves for attacks, there was a call for uniting all groups under one banner and choosing an ‘ameer’ (leader).

The instructions included assigning tasks among members, including the ‘mujahid’ (fighters), a “medical man” capable of dealing with injuries, “scouts” to carry out assessments before and after attacks, members who could “raise funds without raising attention” and “media man”, who “takes photos or videos of the attack (make sure to blur faces of fellow brothers) and propagate” the material on social media.

In another message posted on July 7, the group called on Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel to “distance yourselves from aiding Kuffar and their agents with Muslim names (CM etc and your officers)” and “declare your disobedience to the commands of the taghut (your leaders and officers)”.

It also called on the police not to target terrorists and, using Quranic verses, asked them direct their “weapons at the enemy of Muslims and Islam”.

Amarasingam believes law enforcement should take online communities such as Ansarul Khilafah Jammu and Kashmir “pretty seriously”.

“Sometimes they are small, but that doesn’t mean these groups are not made up of committed followers. If they are already sharing attack logistics and bomb-making materials, it’s only a matter of time before someone takes these tips and carries out something. I would hope that law enforcement has infiltrated these online spaces, but in my experience, that’s not always the case,” he said.

Animesh Roul, executive director of Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict, a New Delhi-based think tank, said there were indications of several fringe groups in Kashmir that “subscribed to the caliphate and its ideals”. There was also the possibility, he said, of Pakistan trying to inject new groups into the Kashmir theatre in the name of IS.

“We don’t know their actual strength…A large coordinated attack needs a lot of planning and that may not be immediate. But we need to be careful as the IS does have sympathisers in India and their ideology is expanding as the group looks to spread elsewhere after the fall of strongholds like Mosul,” Roul said.