SRINAGAR, India (AP) – Al-Qaida said for the first time it is active in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, announcing on a linked propaganda network that a militant from an indigenous rebel group would lead a new outfit of fighters opposing Indian rule in the disputed region.
The announcement was made Thursday by the Global Islamic Media Front, which said Kashmiri militant Zakir Musa will head al-Qaida-linked Ansar Ghawzat-ul-Hind. He recently left Kashmir’s largest indigenous rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen, and is believed to have been joined by less than a dozen others.
Previously, no global jihadi groups have openly operated in Kashmir, a territory divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both entirely.
The propaganda network said the new group will “repel the aggression of tyrant Indian invaders, and through jihad, and with the aid of Allah … we will liberate our homeland Kashmir.”
In 2014, al-Qaida announced the creation of a cell in the Indian subcontinent, but it failed to attract significant support.