ISIS is claiming a new terrority in India called ' Wilayah of Hind '. is claiming a new terrority in India called ' '. The country's intelligence agencies are denying all claims. Announcing a new branch of ISIS is seen as a part of their strategy to maintain the image of strengthening global affiliations after it was pushed out from the Middle East. Islamic State Kashmir Advertisement Jammu and Kashmir Advertisement Advertisement 1) #ISIS declares its new "Hind Province" while claiming clashes with Indian forces in Amshipora. Of course, the es… https://t.co/DOCIz2rAX3 — Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) 1557510477000 Advertisement Theterror group that goes by the name ISIS is claiming that it has a ‘new province’ in India. According to the terror outfit’s broadcast channel, Amaq News, their territory in India is called ‘Wilayah of Hind’ (India Province).But, top officials in the Indian state of Jammu &as well as the country’s intelligence agencies are categorically denying these claims -- in spite of a clash between the region’s militants and the Indian Military, on Friday.According to a statement by ISIS via the messaging app, Telegram, the clash between the groups occurred in the Amshipora village of Kashmir.Media reports, on the same day, reported that a militant was killed — Ishfaq Sofi a.k.a Abdullah Bhai of Islamic State(ISJK).It was then that ISIS began to claim responsibility for attacks against the Indian Military in Kashmir since 2017.Intelligence agencies and the Director General of Jammu Kashmir Police, Dilbagh Singh, said that the terrorist who died wasn’t from ISIS from an ‘IS-inspired’ group.While he could be potentially influenced by the ideology of IS, he ‘definitely’ did not belong to the group nor has the outfit any footprint in Kashmir.To be fair, ISIS also hasn’t lent any details about the geographic boundaries of their newly founded ‘province’.Laying claim to a territory an ISIS ‘province’ is not new for the terror organisation. They’ve reportedly declared a Turkey Province and Central Africa province as well.Announcing a new branch of ISIS is seen as a part of their strategy to maintain the image of strengthening global affiliations after it was pushed out from the Middle East.These claims may have been rubbished since there was never anything in place that resembled actual governance but Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group, warns that they shouldn’t simply be written off either. (with IANS inputs)<doc-sep>The Islamic State announced through its Amaq News Agency on Friday (May 10) that it has established its first “province” in India, Reuters reports. ISIS called the area, located within India’s northern state of Jammu and Kashmir, “Wilayah of Hind,” or Hind province. It also claimed to have inflicted casualties upon Indian forces in a recent clash in Amshipora, a town in that state. Local police said an ISIS-linked militant, Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi, was killed in an exchange yesterday. Last month, ISIS released a video showing its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, claiming responsibility for the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka that killed over 250 people. The video “sought to emphasize the international nature of the struggle” following the group losing its self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria, wrote Nicolas Hénin, a former ISIS hostage and author of Jihad Academy: The Rise of Islamic State, in the Guardian. ISIS likely sees Jammu and Kashmir, with its long-simmering Muslim-Hindu tensions, as promising territory. A spokesman for the South Kashmir police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group, weighed in on Twitter:<doc-sep>Islamic State claimed for the first time that it has established a 'province' in India, after a clash between militants and security forces. IS has stepped up hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks, including taking responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people. (Photo:AP) New Delhi/Srinagar: Islamic State (IS) claimed for the first time that it has established a “province” in India, after a clash between militants and security forces in the contested Kashmir region killed a militant with alleged ties to the group. IS’s Amaq News Agency late on Friday announced the new province, that it called “Wilayah of Hind”, in a statement that also claimed IS inflicted casualties on Indian army soldiers in the town of Amshipora in the Shopian district of Kashmir. The IS statement corresponds with an Indian police statement on Friday that a militant called Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi was killed in an encounter in Shopian. IS’s statement establishing the new province appears to be designed to bolster its standing after the group was driven from its self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in April, where at one point it controlled thousands of miles of territory. IS has stepped up hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks, including taking responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people. “The establishment of a ‘province’ in a region where it has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd, but it should not be written off,” said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intel Group that tracks Islamic extremists. “The world may roll its eyes at these developments, but to jihadists in these vulnerable regions, these are significant gestures to help lay the groundwork in rebuilding the map of the IS ‘caliphate’.” Sofi had been involved in several militant groups in Kashmir for more than a decade before pledging allegiance to Islamic State, according to a military official on Saturday and an interview given by Sofi to a Srinagar-based magazine sympathetic to IS. He was suspected of several grenade attacks on security forces in the region, police and military sources said. “It was a clean operation and no collateral damage took place during the exchange of fire,” a police spokesman said in the statement on Friday’s encounter. The military official said it was possible that Sofi had been the only militant left in Kashmir associated with IS. Separatists have for decades fought an armed conflict against Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. The majority of these groups want independence for Kashmir or to join India’s arch-rival Pakistan. They have not, like Islamic State, sought to establish an empire across the Muslim world. Nuclear powers India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, and came to the brink of a third earlier this year after a suicide attack by a Pakistan-based militant group killed at least 40 paramilitary police in the Indian-controlled portion of the region. A spokesman for India’s home ministry, which is responsible for security in Kashmir, did not respond to a request for comment.<doc-sep>
ISIS Announces New 'Branch' In India After Clashes In Kashmir The Islamic State terror group has claimed to have established a new "province" in India, the first of its kind announcement that came after clashes between militants and security forces in Kashmir on May 10. The Arabic name of the new branch is "Wilayah of Hind" (India Province), the dreaded terror outfit, (also known as ISIS and ISIL), said through its Amaq News Agency. A senior Jammu and Kashmir police officer has rejected the claim. Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intel Group that tracks Islamic extremists, said: "ISIS declares its new "Hind Province" while claiming clashes with Indian forces in Amshipora". 1) #ISIS declares its new "Hind Province" while claiming clashes with Indian forces in Amshipora. Of course, the establishment of a “province” in a region where it has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd, but it should not be written off.https://t.co/8aHiPpA8Ez pic.twitter.com/azLHxAUWUh — Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) May 10, 2019 "Of course, the establishment of a 'province' in a region where it has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd, but it should not be written off," she said on Twitter. ISIS did not elaborate on the branch's geographical remit as it mentioned the name of its new branch in a low-key announcement. The announcement of the new branch is seen as part of ISIS' strategy to give the impression of strengthening its global affiliations following the territorial losses in the Middle East. Such a strategy was highlighted by ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in the past. The brief ISIS statement of May 10 via the messaging app Telegram said that the Islamic State militants using machine guns had clashed with the Indian security forces in the village of Amshipora in Kashmir's Shopian district, killing or injuring a number of them. The statement, however, did not mention when the alleged clashes occurred. Media reports on May 10 said that one militant was killed in clashes with security forces in Kashmir's Shopian district. ISIS began claiming attacks against Indian security forces in Kashmir since November 2017 without any branch affiliation. Previously, ISIS attacks in Kashmir were linked to its so-called Khorasan Province branch, which was set up in 2015 to cover "Afghanistan, Pakistan and nearby lands". PTI For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine