Remarks by BJP leaders against Prophet Muhammad have drawn the ire of dreaded terror network Al-Qaeda’s South Asian region affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), which has issued a grim warning of conducting several suicide bombing attacks across India in a bid to avenge the insult on the Prophet. India has witnessed the arrest of several AQIS operatives over the past couple of months for trying to launch terror attacks and expand its base in the country.

In its letter, dated June 6, the terror outfit vowed to “fight for the honour of the Prophet” by launching a series of suicide attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

“A few days ago, the propagators and flag bearers of Hindutva – a system and philosophy hostile to the religion and Shariah of Allah – insulted and slandered the purest of beings, the most honourable after God himself, Muhammad al Mustafa, Ahmad al Mujtaba, and his noble and pure wife, the mother of the believers, Sayyidah Ayesha bint Abu Bakr as Siddeeq in the most vile and evil manner on an Indian TV channel. In response to this affront, the hearts of Muslim all over the world are bleeding and are filled with feelings of revenge and retribution,” read the letter which has been widely shared on social media platforms.

In an indirect affront to former BJP national spokesperson Nupur Sharma, the terror organisation said that “we should fight for the dignity of our Prophet, we should urge others to fight and die for the honour of our Prophet, we should kill those who affront our Prophet and we should bind explosives with our bodies and the bodies of our children to blow away the ranks of those who dare to dishonour our Prophet”.

What is AQIS – Origin and Operations

AQIS shot into prominence when the group was formed back in 2014 by Al-Qaeda head, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama-Bin-Laden’s successor. The globally banned terror outfit operates out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and is active in the Nimruz, Helmand, and Kandahar provinces. While announcing the formation of AQIS, in a nearly hour-long video, Zawahiri introduced an Indian citizen by the name Asim Umar as its Emir. After Umar was designated as a global terrorist by the United States in 2018, the former AQIS chief was purportedly eliminated in a joint US-Afghan military operation in the Helmand province in 2019.

The AQIS has a strong presence in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India. The group, which officially goes by the name Ansar-al-Islam in Bangladesh, is believed to be behind the recent killings of many prominent secular figures in the country.

AQIS in India

Barely a year after its formation, three AQIS operatives were arrested in Delhi. Subsequently, a key AQIS member Maulana Abdul Rehman was nabbed by the Delhi police over claims of setting up training facilities deep inside the Jharkhand forests, according to a report.

Amidst the ongoing crackdown on the terror organisation, the Uttar Pradesh police on July 2021 arrested two AQIS agents Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind for planning a series of attacks in Lucknow leading up to the Independence Day. Few months later, according to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheet filed against another AQIS operative, the central agency stated that the alleged agent was responsible for trying to spread the network within the country.

Earlier this year, six agents were arrested in Assam for trying to make Barpeta district as a fertile ground to launch future operations of the group.