ISKP claims repsonsibility for Mangaluru blast

Team Udayavani, Mar 5, 2023, 4:29 PM IST

The Islamic State militant group  — Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)–  has claimed responsibility for the Coimbatore and Mangaluru blasts that occurred last year. The group made the admission through its propaganda magazine, “Voice of Khurasan,” which was released by the Al-Azaim Media Foundation, reported India Today.

The article in Voice of Khurasan, which is 68 pages long and in English, states that ISKP militants are present in South India and were involved in the two blasts. However, it does not specify the southern state in which they are active. Experts suggest that they are most likely in Kerala and may be spreading to some parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, India Today report added.

The article also mentions that the car explosion in Coimbatore on October 23 and the pressure cooker blast in an autorickshaw in Mangaluru on November 19 were carried out by IS-affiliated militants.

“Do you not consider our attacks in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, in Bangalore [the author of the magazine wrote Bangalore instead of Mangaluru], where our brothers took revenge for the honour of our religion and terrorised kufar [non-Muslims and disbelievers] and its followers?” India Today report quoted from the Magazine.

The recent acknowledgment by ISKP via its propaganda magazine implies the potential presence of Islamic State-affiliated terrorists in the southern states of India.