Page 634 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

came from private individuals from the Middle East who wanted to see the
Assad regime fall. A series of attacks on Iraqi prisons took place in 2012 and
2013. These prison attacks supplied it with a huge infusion of recruits.

In April 2013, Baghdadi did something dramatic: he asserted unilateral
control over all al-Qaeda operations in both Syria and Iraq. To demonstrate
this change, he renamed AQI as ISIS. ISIS and al-Qaeda eventually split,
dividing the jihadist movement in Syria.

Why ISIS is distinct from other militant groups

It is the first Islamic terrorist group to gain direct control of oil revenues.

It upped the level of medieval violence through sensationalised
barbarity.

It brilliantly appealed directly to disaffected young Muslims throughout
the Western world.

Unlike other extremist groups, ISIS refuses to lurk in the shadows.

ISIS is not content with controlling a limited amount of territory

confined to a single nation-state like the Tamil Tigers, for instance.

India and ISIS

India faces an increasing domestic threat from virtual recruitment and self-

radicalisation, which has resulted in some Indians officially joining ISIS and
fighting in Iraq and Syria. There aren’t natural limits on the growth of ISIS in
Bangladesh. The porous borders between Bangladesh and India and the rising
tensions in refugee camps related to the Rohingya refugee crisis are

particularly concerning. Although India’s Ministry of Home Affairs estimates
that only 75 Indians have joined ISIS, the Islamic State is growing faster in

India than many realise.

Starting in 2014, cases surfaced of young adults trying to join ISIS online.
ISIS attempted to plant the seeds of unrest in India in June 2014 by including