An image grab taken from a press release issued on April 23, 2019 by the Islamic State (IS) group's propaganda agency Amaq, allegedly shows eight men it said carried out a string of deadly suicide bomb blasts on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, lined up at an undisclosed location. The man in the centre is believed to be Zahran Hashim, who was identified by the Sri Lankan police as the leader of the Islamist National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) group, which Colombo has blamed for the attacks. - The Islamic State group claimed a series of bombings on churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka that killed more than 320 people on April 21, and released the photo of the men it said were behind the "blessed attack", describing them as "fighters" from the terror network. The massive casualty toll would make the Easter attacks the deadliest overseas operation claimed by IS since the group proclaimed its worldwide caliphate in mid-2014. (Photo by HO / AAMAQ NEWS AGENCY / AFP) / THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. / ìThe erroneous mention[s] appearing in the metadata of this photo by HO has been modified in AFP systems in the following manner: [HASHIM] instead of [HASHMI]. Please immediately remove the erroneous mention[s] from all your online services and delete it (them) from your servers. If you have been authorized by AFP to distribute it (them) to third parties, please ensure that the same actions are carried out by them. Failure to promptly comply with these instructions will entail liability on your part for any continued or post notification usage. Therefore we thank you very much for all your attention and prompt action. We are sorry for the inconvenience this notification may cause and remain at your disposal for any further information you may require.î
he Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) recently announced the launch of Wilayah-e-Hind. “Wilayah” means province in Arabic; in this case, the reference is to Jammu and Kashmir in India. ISIS first announced its presence in Kashmir in 2017 when it claimed responsibility for attacks on Indian forces.
ISIS has also appointed Abu Muhammad al-Bengali as the emir of Bengal. The emir’s jurisdiction will apparently be Bangladesh, but its posters threaten both Bangladesh and India.
The ISIS announcements reflect its growth plans for South Asia. After losing its territorial gains in Syria, it is rejuvenating its plans to establish areas of control elsewhere.Read More…
