The Islamic State has announced the establishment of a new overseas province in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The announcement was made over the weekend by Amaq, the Islamic State news agency. According to the press release, the Islamic State (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) named the new province "wilayah al-Hind" (Hind province), and claimed to be based in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley. which is located in one of the three administrative divisions of the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Amaq report emerged following an armed confrontation between a group of Islamic militants and Indian security forces in Amshipora, a village in the Shopian district, located in the foothills of the northern Himalayas.
At least one Islamist militant was killed in the armed confrontation, which according to reports lasted two hours. Indian authorities identified the dead militant as Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi and said they had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. Amaq's statement claimed that the Amshipora militants had "inflicted casualties" on the security forces, but the request was denied by the Indian government.
The Reuters news agency spoke to Rita Katz, an Israeli analyst who heads the SITE Intelligence Group in the United States. He said the announcement of a new province of the Islamic State "should not be canceled," but added that "the establishment of a province in a region where [the Islamic State] has nothing resembling the royal government is absurd".
Writing in Hong Kong's Asia Times, Prakash Katoch, a retired lieutenant general in the Indian Army special forces, said the announcement of a wilayah in India was a first for the Islamic State. He warned that after announcing a province in Indian Kashmir, the Islamic State "may also attempt to increase its presence in other Indian states" with a significant Muslim presence, such as Kerala or West Bengal. Katoch noted that "a number of young men and women from Kerala" had been identified as adherents to the Islamic State in 2016 and 2017. Many of them, in fact, went to Syria to fight for the Sunni Islamic group. added.