ISIS preparing to attack India, claims report; MHA calls it 'rubbish'

Washington: The ISIS is preparing to attack India to provoke an Armageddon-like confrontation with the US, according to an internal recruitment document of the feared group. The home affairs ministry terms the alleged IS document 'rubbish'.

Representational picture

An investigative story published on Tuesday by the USA Today and reported by American Media Institute refers to a 32-page Urdu document obtained from a Pakistani citizen with connections inside the Pakistani Taliban. "The document warns that 'preparations' for an attack in India are underway and predicts that an attack will provoke an apocalyptic confrontation with America," the report said. "Even if the US tries to attack with all its allies, which undoubtedly it will, the ummah (Muslims) will be united, resulting in the final battle," it added.

The document, according to the report, was independently translated into English by a Harvard scholar and verified by several serving and retired intelligence official. Bruce Riedel, a retired CIA official and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, said striking in India would magnify the ISIS' stature and threaten the stability of the region.

"Attacking in India is the Holy Grail of South Asian jihadists," he was quoted as saying. The undated document is titled 'A Brief History of the Islamic State Caliphate, The Caliphate According to the Prophet.'

It seeks to unite dozens of factions of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army of terror, the daily said. "It includes a never-before-seen history of the Islamic State, details chilling future battle plans, urges al-Qaeda to join the group and says the Islamic State's leader should be recognised as the sole ruler of the world's 1 billion Muslims under a religious empire called a 'caliphate'," it said.

Aware of the ISIS' presence in Afghanistan, the White House said it is closely monitoring the situation. ISIS' presence and its threat perception was also discussed in the past two months between senior officials of US and Pakistan.

"Instead of wasting energy in a direct confrontation with the US, we should focus on an armed uprising in the Arab world for the establishment of the caliphate," the document said.

The document was reviewed by three US intelligence officials, who said they believe the document is authentic based on its unique markings and the fact that language used to describe leaders, the writing style and religious wording match other documents from the ISIS, USA Today added.