AQIS seeks single command for terror groups in India, Pak, Bangladesh, eyes 9/11-model attacks

New Delhi: Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has initiated plans to serve as an umbrella organisation for active terror modules across India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh in a bid to prevent inter-group friction and execute large-scale strategic attacks, according to intelligence agencies.

An Intelligence Bureau official said there are scores of splinter groups operating in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, with each functioning independently.

AQIS, a regional arm of Al-Qaeda, believes that this fragmentation has reduced its overall effectiveness. The official said AQIS is not interested in carrying out small-scale attacks and therefore wants these groups to come together under a common umbrella.

An official said intelligence agencies’ intercepts indicate that AQIS, which has remained largely silent in recent years, is now planning to carry out a major operation.

“It is not interested in carrying out routine bomb blasts or targeted killings. The outfit wants to mount an attack on the scale of 9/11 and therefore believes it needs a much larger force to carry out such an operation,” the official said.

Groups such as the Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islamic (HuJI), Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), Anar-al-Islam, Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen-Brigade 313, Ansar-ut-Tawhid wa al-Jihad and Anzar Ghazwat ul-Hind (AGuH) follow the ideology of Al-Qaeda.

These groups largely work independently, and they have no proper command structure. This has made these groups ineffective, intelligence officials say.

“However, bringing all these groups under a single command structure, with AQIS at the helm, would make the grouping far more dangerous. This is what AQIS wants to achieve,” the officials said.

Another official said AQIS is planning a major attack and, once the unification of these groups is complete, could target high-value locations such as key government buildings, sensitive sites and military installations.

The official added that AQIS does not want to be seen as a conventional terror group and instead seeks to wage a battle on a scale comparable to that of a country's military.

While such a grouping would add teeth to Al-Qaeda, it would also counter the Islamic State.

AQIS was formed in 2014 immediately after Abu Bakr-al Bagdadi, the founder of the Islamic State, announced the so-called Islamic Caliphate.

This was a major turning point for AQIS and its other region-specific groups across the world.

The death of Osama Bin Laden led to a major drop in Al-Qaeda’s operations. This, coupled with the rise of the Islamic State, almost made Al-Qaeda redundant.

Officials say that in recent months there have been a lot of changes that have been taking place within Al-Qaeda.

The deaths of Bin Laden and then Ayman al Zawahiri led to a massive fall in recruitment. This led to Al-Qaeda operating continent- or region-wise under different heads. It wanted to change the cult culture within the group.

However, it has now decided to return to its earlier operational structure, with a single leader at the helm. A video of Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden, was released by Al-Qaeda on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The move was seen as a signal that Al-Qaeda had decided to return to its earlier cult-style mode of operation.

Intelligence agencies have said that, from the perspective of India’s national security, AQIS’s attempt to position itself as an umbrella organisation for various terror outfits operating in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is a matter of concern.

“If such a grouping succeeds and Hamza bin Laden is declared the leader of Al-Qaeda, it could breathe new life into the outfit. There are many adherents of Bin Laden’s ideology in India, which makes these latest plans even more dangerous,” an intelligence agency official said.

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