Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has declared Wednesday in a videotaped message the formation of the global terrorist group’s Indian branch to “raise the flag of Jihad” and to spread Islamic rule across South Asia.

In a 55-minute video, which initially featured stock footage of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, Zawahiri renewed his allegiance to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

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Here is an AFP video of al-Zawahiri's declaration:

Detailing the significance of the “al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent” in crushing the artificial borders that divide Muslim populations in the region, Zawahiri called for unity among militants while alluding to criticisms commonly hurled at rival militant organization, the Islamic State.

In the video, Zawahiri urged the Muslim nation to wage jihad against the infidels, to liberate Muslim lands and to restore the sovereignty of its caliphate.

Zawahiri warned the new wing against oppressing local populations, discord within the organization, and transgressions against “mujahideen brothers by word and action,” all of which being the group’s common complaints against IS.

Zawahiri designated Umar Asim as the Indian wing’s chief who would rally the Islamist revival in Burma and Bangladesh and the Indian states of Kashmir, Gujarat, Assam, and Ahmedabad.

The new branch, according to Zawahiri, is “a message that we did not forget you, our Muslim brothers in India,” who are now deemed oppressed by nonbelievers.

Reuters reported that counter-terrorism experts see this move from the al-Qaeda as an apparent attempt to regain leadership of transnational Islamist militancy from the Islamic State. In launching the Indian wing, Zawahiri appeared eager to recruit young followers worldwide after the Islamic State’s success in occupying territories across the Iraq-Syria border.

Since the death of Bin Landen in 2011, the al-Qaeda has somewhat been eclipsed by its offshoots in the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. And recently, by the self-declared jihadists of the Islamic State under Abu Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who proclaimed himself as the head of the single caliphate of all Muslim lands.

The Islamic State fell out with Al-Qaeda in 2013 over Syrian expansion where the offshoot terrorist group carried out mass executions, beheading and crucifixions.

TagsAl-qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, jihad