south-asian-militant-groups-and-global-jihad-in-2015

NEW AG EN T S OF GLOB AL JIHAD
organisation of several important offshoots. Brigade 313 is a
coalition of three militant organisations: HuJI, LeT and LeJ. 19
5. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM):
In 1997, HuM was proscribed a terror organization by the US due
to its links with AQ. Its leader, Fazal ur Rehman Khalil, is a
signatory to Bin Laden’s 1998 fatwa that declared war on both the
US and Israel. 20 HuM works closely with the head of AQIS, Asim
Umar, and in conjunction with JeM, they are believed to be
responsible for training militants for operations in Jammu and
Kashmir. 21
HuM’s most notorious attack was the hijacking of the Indian
Airlines Flight IC814 on Christmas Eve, 1999.
HuM currently runs training camps in east Afghanistan, and may
be part of an AQ “syndicate” of Pakistani militants. It may have
several thousand members in Jammu and Kashmir. 22
6. Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)
JeM split into two separate factions in 2003. One is led by Mualana
Abdul Jabbar, and is called Jamaat ul-Furqan (JuF), the other is led
by Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, and is called Khuddam-ul-Islam (KuI).
Both offshoots have since been banned, but continue to be referred
to as JeM.
JeM has well-known “suicide attack” modus operandi; their most
famous attack was on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi in 2001,
which also involved LeT militants.
JeM is a core faction of the “Punjabi Taliban Network.” 23 Other core
factions are LeJ and SSP 24 (see Figure 2). The collection of militants
inside JeM is believed to comprise of 300-400 fighters 25 though
they may have a larger membership beyond their core fighters.
17