Terror group Al Qaeda seems to be making significant inroads into the Indian Subcontinent, if reports are to be believed. According to counter terrorism experts, the Al Qaeda now has hundreds of members under its belt. Most of the cells of the terror outfit are believed to be in Afghanistan, though the group appears to be flourishing in Bangladesh.
Reports claim that Al Qaeda currently has cells in Afghanistan’s Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Paktika, Ghazni, and Nuristan province, and its presence was more expansive than it was 5 to 10 years ago. This expansion might have been prompted by the fact that Taliban was making advances in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda had a relationship with their operatives.
But interestingly, it were the operatives from Bangladesh who were most active and were carrying out regular attacks. The group also appears to be indulging in regular propaganda via its media house As-Sahab. But even though the group had carried out attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it still currently remains irrelevant in the broader Taliban led insurgency.
The security agencies though seem to have been largely successful in countering the possibly growing threat of the Al Qaeda, which was evident by the fact that over hundred operatives linked to the Al-Qaeda were killed in October 2015 after US and Afghan forces targeted their training camp.
This news about the terror group gaining strength and indulging in propaganda, comes days after it was reported how the terror group had released a document titled Code of conduct for Mujahideen in the subcontinent. Here it detailed its objectives and targets and also laid out general guidelines for its members to follow.
Incidentally, even though this group has been mostly active in Afghanistan, it seems to have started to view Kashmir as a possible future breeding ground. This was evident by the fact that the Al Qaeda’s document threatened how it wanted to carry out attacks against the Indian military in order to establish Sharia in the Kashmir valley.
