When Bangladeshi authorities last month released the names of 261 men who have gone missing from their families, in an attempt to find militants hidden in this country of 160 million people, at the very end of the list was "Jilani alias Abu Zidal".

He was not in Bangladesh. The young man, an engineering school dropout, travelled to Syria last year to fight for Islamic State. In April, IS announced he was blown to bits during battle by a 23-millimeter gun, the sort used to shoot down aircraft. 

Maldives has sent more terrorists per capita than any other country in the world to fight with extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

A popular tourist destination could be sliding into Islamist terrorism following its departure from the British Commonwealth, according to regional experts.

The Maldives, a nation of 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean, is best known for its tropical weather and seaside resorts. But Maldives has sent more terrorists per capita than any other country in the world to fight with extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A Pakistani militant group said it cooperated with Islamic State to carry out a deadly nighttime attack on a police academy in the southwestern city of Quetta, demonstrating how the group based in Iraq and Syria can operate in new territory.

Islamic State claimed it carried out the attack—a sign that while the group is losing ground in the Middle East, it is looking to go on the offensive in South Asia, alongside local jihadist organizations. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for other recent attacks in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

After months denying the existence of transnational jihadist groups on its soil in the face of a violent campaign against secular and progressive forces, Bangladeshi authorities appear to have woken up to the reality of extremist militancy.

A series of arrests this year in India has highlighted how India has been unable to escape its overtures as Islamic State (IS) continues its attempts to expand its geographical and online reach beyond Iraq and Syria.

While IS propaganda has so far struck a chord with only a small number of India’s Muslims, reports have emerged that the group’s jihadist ideals spread via web forums and social media have inspired many individuals formerly affiliated with indigenous militant formations such as the Indian Mujahideen and the Student Islamic Movement of India. 

Abstract: Despite government denials, Bangladesh has increasingly become fertile ground for al-Qa`ida and the Islamic State. Both groups have taken advantage of an upsurge in Islamist militancy in the country over anger at the execution of Islamist political leaders in 2013, and both hope to expand their footprint there by building alliances with local groups. Bangladeshi police suspect the Bangladeshi wing of al-Qa`ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), which has claimed a series of attacks on secular bloggers, is liaising with top leadership of the terrorist network in Pakistan.

Muhammad Shafi Armar: From Indian Mujahideen to Islamic State Recruiter

Animesh Roul ( Militant Leadership Monitor)

THE SOCIAL JIHAD: ISIS’s use of social media may be the greater danger. MARCH 30, 2016/  THE GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE

By Animesh Roul.

https://theglobalintelligence.com/2016/03/30/the-social-jihad/

It is increasingly evident that each time the relations between India and Pakistan improve, India-focused jihadist groups from across the Pakistani border attempt to disrupt it with attacks in the Indian states of Kashmir, Punjab, and elsewhere. The inevitable aim of these is to upset the possibility of amicable dialogue between these two populous and nuclear-armed nations. 

SSPC's Animesh Roul published a paper on 'Chemical and Biological Dimensions of Jihadi Terrorism', in Namrata Goswami (ed) "INDIA’S APPROACH TO ASIA Strategy, Geopolitics and Responsibility", IDSA/ Pentagon Press, 2016.

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