ISIS claims “Province” in India for first time

Terrorist group ISIS has claimed for the first time that it has established a “province” in India, following a clash between militants and security forces in the contested Kashmir region

Terrorist group ISIS has claimed for the first time that it has established a “province” in India, following a clash between militants and security forces in the contested Kashmir region, which killed a militant with alleged ties to the group, Reuters reported.

ISIS’ Amaq News Agency late on Friday May 10th announced the new province called “Wilayah of Hind,” in a statement that also claimed Isis inflicted casualties on Indian army soldiers in the town of Amshipora in the Shopian district of Kashmir.

The ISIS statement corresponds with an Indian police statement on Friday May 10th that a militant called Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi was killed in an encounter in Shopian.

The terrorist group’s statement establishing the so called new province appears to be designed to bolster its standing, after the group was driven from the area it held in Iraq and Syria in April, where at one point it had controlled thousands of miles of territory.

ISIS has stepped up hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks, including taking responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombing in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people.

“The establishment of a ‘province’ in a region where it has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd, but it should not be written off,” said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intel Group that tracks extremists.