Islamic State gets ambitious, plans to target India: Report

In a recent revelation by an internal recruitment document of ISIL, it showed the group was preparing to attack India and draw the United States into a war. The group also plans to unite the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army.

The Islamic State’s members adhere to an extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam and consider themselves the only true believers. The group’s blinkered ideology espouses that the rest of the world comprises non-believers who want to destroy Islam, thereby justifying attacks against other Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The group raises several million dollars by robbing, looting and extortion. They also possess weapons from machine guns to rocket launchers and even surface-to-air missile systems. The Islamic State controls many areas of Syria and Iraq, while its main agenda is to establish a caliphate governed in accordance with Islamic law or Sharia by God’s deputy.

The internal recruitment document was translated into English by a Harvard scholar and was verified by senior intelligence officials. If ISIL manages to attack India, it would raise its stature and threaten the stability of the region, according to Bruce Riedel, a retired CIA official. The document speaks about future plans of the group and asks Al-Qaeda to join the group and recognise the leader of the Islamic State as the sole ruler of the world’s Muslims under the self-styled caliphate.

While the document has raised concerns about the plans of Islamic State, there is no evidence of the IS’ influence in India, according to some intelligence officials quoted in media reports. With the growing rise of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, the White House is said to be monitoring the situation. The findings of the document were reviewed by three intelligence officials in the US. They said the document was authentic as it matched the style of writing and religious wordings of other documents found about the Islamic State. The rise of Islamic State is alarming and India cannot afford to take it easy. India also needs to monitor the situation in Afghanistan to prevent further spread of terrorism by the group in South Asia.

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