MLM: "Mentor, Provocateur or Mastermind? Understanding Naufar Moulavi’s Role in Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Attack"
In early January 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that three foreign nationals – Muhammed Naufar (also, Naufar Moulavi), Muhammed Riskan and Ahamed Milhan – had been charged with conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State (IS), a designated foreign terrorist organization that claimed responsibility for the deadly April 2019 Easter Sunday violence in Sri Lanka (U.S. Department of Justice, January 8).
Islamic State’s Khorasan Province: A Potent Force in Afghan Jihad
Although the so-called Islamic State (IS) Caliphate crumbled and disintegrated in the Middle East, the group’s most potent branch, the IS-Khorasan Province (IS-KP) remains resilient. It continues to display its violent presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, fiercely withstanding the unremitting onslaughts from government and rival Taliban forces. The group demonstratively retains the ability to carry out gruesome attacks at will in the capital Kabul and its traditional strongholds in Eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
TM: "Islamic State Hind Province’s Kashmir Campaign and Pan-Indian Capabilities"
When Islamic State (IS) announced an Indian-based ‘province’ (wilayah) on May 10, 2019, IS effectively consolidated previously fragmented pro-IS jihadist entities under the IS Hind (IS-H) province banner. IS aimed to increase its recruitment and operational success in embattled Kashmir, which has a long tradition of Islamist militancy. However, IS also launched a propaganda campaign to have a broader pan-Indian impact. [1]
MLM: Islamic State War Returnee Jailed for Life in India—Subahani Haja Mohideen
In late September, a special Indian National Investigating Agency (NIA) counter-terrorism court in Ernakulam, Kerala, sentenced Islamic State (IS) terrorist Subahani Haja Mohideen (a.k.a. Abu Jasmine al-Hindi) to life imprisonment (NIA, September 28; The Hindu, September 28).
TM: "Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Factions Reunited for ‘Holy War’ Against Islamabad"
Since the death of firebrand Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah in June 2018, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has witnessed a substantial decline in stature and firepower due to a leadership crisis, inherent factionalism, and a sustained military offensive on its strongholds across the Durand Line, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Following nearly two years of internal conflict, the Pakistani Taliban under the leadership of Abu Mansoor Asim Mehsud (a.k.a. Noor Wali Mehsud) has seemingly recovered from those reversals and is back from a near obsolescence.
MLM: "Islamic State Obituary Profiles the Life of Slain Maldivan Jihadist Ahmad Nishwan"
In early May 2020, the pro-Islamic State (IS) media center Haqqu released a documentary on the life of the slain Maldivian jihadist Ahmad Nishwan. The biographical sketch on Nishwan, which is approximately 33-minutes-long, comes amid IS’ increased outreach efforts to Maldivians.
TM: "Pakistan Confronts Resurgent Baluch Ethno-Separatist Militancy"
Pakistan has recently faced a renewed ethno-separatist militant surge targeting its financial and energy infrastructure. Four recent attacks indicate a resurgence within the multiple secessionist groups fighting for Baluchistan independence.
AL QAEDA IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: Spearheading Jihad in South Asia-2014-2020
The enduring presence of the transnational Jihadi terrorist group Al Qaeda, the so-called vanguard of the global jihadist movement, reminds us of its stature, strength and resilience in the face of a decade-long concerted 'war on terror' against this group and its support system across the globe. Since the deadly September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the group's leadership strategically achieved relative success in expanding its physical infrastructure and ideological base.
TM: "Islamic State-Khorasan Remains Potent Force in Afghan Jihad"
Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) has dominated the jihadist landscape of Afghanistan for the past several years while sharing turf with the powerful Taliban. It has suffered several significant setbacks in recent months, including a leadership crisis and territorial losses in its former provincial strongholds of Nangarhar and Kunar. Both Afghan government forces and the Taliban claimed to have accosted and defeated IS-K in 2019. The perceived downfall coincided with Islamic State’s (IS) crumbling caliphate in the Middle East and the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.