The trajectory of jihadist activity in India is shifting. High-impact attacks, such as the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam assault in Jammu and Kashmir attributed to Lashkar-e-Taiba/The Resistance Front, and the November 2025 suicide bombing near Delhi’s Red Fort linked to a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) affiliated “Doctors network”, still mark the threat landscape. However, early 2026 indicates a change in direction. The pattern is moving from episodic, high-visibility violence to sustained, low-level radicalization within digital and local networks.
Bangladesh’s most lethal home-grown militant organization, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB)—which has multiple ideological and operational factions, including the Islamic State (IS)-inspired neo-JMB and al-Qaeda linked core Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JM)—has gained notoriety over the last few years for recruiting and nurturing a network of women militants. Despite robust counter-terrorism operations following the July 2016 Holey Artisan Bakery attacks in the capital Dhaka, an alarming number of women are taking up the cause of militancy.
"The founding of JMI on Indian soil indicates two things—that Bangladesh’s concerted counterterror operations have pushed the JMB remnants into neighboring India in search of a safe haven, and that there has been somewhat of an ideological rift within the original JMB with the different strands adhering to either the jihadist ideals of al-Qaeda or those of Islamic State (IS).
Spreading Tentacles: The Islamic State in BangladeshAnimesh RoulPublication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 3[February 6, 2015]http://www.jamestown.org/
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