Islamic State, the jihadist militants controlling tracts of territory in Syria and Iraq, are planning to “trigger a war in India to provoke an Armageddon-like end of the world,” scenario and to this end “preparations” for an attack on Indian soil are underway, according to an alleged IS document obtained via the Pakistani Taliban.
The American Media Institute and USA Today newspaper here reported on Wednesday that the 32-page Urdu document obtained from a Pakistani citizen with insider connections to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) focused on building a new terrorist army in Afghanistan and Pakistan to achieve these goals.
On the plan to target India, the document reportedly said that such a strike would provoke an apocalyptic confrontation with America, and “Even if the U.S tries to attack with all its allies, which undoubtedly it will, the ummah [worldwide Muslim community] will be united, resulting in the final battle.”
The document was said to reference the IS "chapter" in South Asia, the Khorasan group, and the suggestion appeared to be that this unit was already fully operational.
Reflecting the now well-known brutality of IS in carrying out videotaped beheadings of hostages the document added, “Accept the fact that this caliphate will survive and prosper until it takes over the entire world and beheads every last person that rebels against Allah… This is the bitter truth, swallow it.”
Speaking to The Hindu Sara Carter, the AMI author of the report on the document, described the terror threat to India as “imminent, IS-lead and -funded,” and as a venture that was being used as a recruitment tool, including in India.
Ms. Carter noted that the document did not give the location of the attack, but makes clear that planning for it has been underway for some time, and at one point the document says, “Preparations for ghazva-i-hind [a prophesised battle against India] are in full swing and soon the ummah will hear tidings of victory on that front as well, Allah willing.”
Titled “A Brief History of the Islamic State Caliphate, The Caliphate According to the Prophet,” the undated document recovered from the tribal lands between Afghanistan and Pakistan seeks to unite dozens of factions of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army of terror.
The AMI said that the document, which was translated from Urdu by Harvard researcher Mustafa Samdani, includes a “never-before-seen history of the Islamic State, details chilling future battle plans, urges al-Qaeda to join the group and says IS’ leader should be recognised as the sole ruler of the world’s one billion Muslims under a religious empire called a ‘caliphate.’”
The AMI said that the document had been reviewed anonymously by three U.S. intelligence officials, who confirmed its authenticity based on its “unique markings and the fact that language used to describe leaders, the writing style and religious wording match other documents from IS.”
‘Red flag’
Further, Ms. Carter said to The Hindu , retired Defence Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn described the document as a “red flag,” and noted that the second- and third-order effect of a major war in South Asia went beyond the scale of wars the U.S. has fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, particularly surrounding the risk that weapons of mass destruction could be used.
