Asim Umar

Asim Umar was the U.S.-designated emir (leader) of al-Qaeda’s South Asian affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).“State Department Terrorist Designations,” U.S. Department of State, June 30, 2016, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2016/06/259219.htm. The branch was founded in September 2014 by al-Qaeda Emir Ayman al-Zawahiri, who appointed Umar as the group’s leader in a video message in September 2014.Asim Tanveer and Maria Golovnina, “Al Qaeda’s shadowy new ‘emir’ in South Asia handed tough job,” Reuters, September 9 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/us-southasia-alqaeda-insight-idUSKBN0H42DN20140909. Before his promotion to emir of AQIS, Umar reportedly served as the commander of the Pakistani Taliban, as well as al-Qaeda’s senior sharia official in Pakistan.Thomas Joscelyn, “Pakistani Taliban leader discusses ‘global jihad,’ Syria in al Qaeda video,” Long War Journal, July 24, 2013, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2013/07/_umar_is_the_author.php;
Thomas Joscelyn, “Social Media Jihad: Open interview with al Qaeda’s sharia official in Pakistan,” Long War Journal, April 9, 2014, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/04/social_media_jihad_open_interv.php. Umar was killed in a joint U.S.-Afghan operation on September 23, 2019 in Musa Qala, Afghanistan.Bill Roggio, “Afghan intelligence confirms death of AQIS emir,” Long War Journal, October 8, 2020, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2019/10/afghan-intelligence-confirms-death-of-aqis-emir.php.

Umar was reportedly born in the city of Sambhal, in India’s Uttar Pradesh province in the late 1960s or early 1970s.Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury and Rahul Tripathi, “Al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent releases audio speech warning fighters against harming innocent Muslims,” Economic Times (Mumbai), June 2, 2016, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/al-qaeda-in-indian-subcontinent-releases-audio-speech-warning-fighters-against-harming-innocent-muslims/articleshow/52544561.cms. Before joining al-Qaeda, Umar had experience fighting Indian troops in Kashmir alongside Islamist militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI).Asim Tanveer and Maria Golovnina, “Al Qaeda’s shadowy new ‘emir’ in South Asia handed tough job,” Reuters, September 9 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/us-southasia-alqaeda-insight-idUSKBN0H42DN20140909. Between the late 1990s and early 2000s, Umar reportedly instructed students at radical seminaries in Pakistan.“More Qaeda-Pak links: AQIS chief was at ‘ISI’ PoK camp,” Indian Express (New Delhi), accessed August 10, 2015, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/more-qaeda-pak-links-aqis-chief-was-at-isi-pok-camp/. Umar was believed to facilitate the move of Osama bin Laden to his safe house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in the mid-2000s.Asim Tanveer and Maria Golovnina, “Al Qaeda’s shadowy new ‘emir’ in South Asia handed tough job,” Reuters, September 9 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/us-southasia-alqaeda-insight-idUSKBN0H42DN20140909. He became closely involved with al-Qaeda in 2007 after Pakistani security forces besieged the Lal Masjid seminary, killing 100 people, many of them students.“Al-Qaeda chief in region may be of Indian origin: Intel agencies,” Indian Express (New Delhi), accessed August 10, 2015, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/al-qaeda-chief-in-region-may-be-of-indian-origin-intel-agencies/99/;
“Harkut-ul-Mujahedeen,” Stanford Mapping Militant Organizations, accessed August 10, 2015, http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/219;
“Court demands Red Mosque answers,” BBC News, August 28, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6967537.stm.

Umar has reportedly written numerous books, translating them into Pashto, Uzebk, and Arabic. According to sources close to Umar, he has eyed the Indian subcontinent as a potential theater of jihad for years. He has even released videos directed at Kashmiri Muslims in the hopes of recruiting them to fight against their secular government.“Al-Qaeda chief in region may be of Indian origin: Intel agencies,” Indian Express (New Delhi), accessed August 10, 2015, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/al-qaeda-chief-in-region-may-be-of-indian-origin-intel-agencies/99/;
“Harkut-ul-Mujahedeen,” Stanford Mapping Militant Organizations, accessed August 10, 2015, http://web.stanford.edu/group/mappingmilitants/cgi-bin/groups/view/219.

In an official AQIS video in May 2015, Umar claimed responsibility for the murder of numerous secular bloggers and professors in Bangladesh and Pakistan. He declared that the assassinations were “part of a series of operations initiated by…Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri,” and that it was “equally part of our commitment to fulfill the oath of Sheikh Osama [bin Laden].”Ellen Barry, “Al Qaeda Branch Claims Responsibility for Bangladeshi Blogger’s Killing,” New York Times, May 3, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/world/asia/bangladesh-al-qaeda-indian-subcontinent-attack-on-bloggers.html. While Umar appears in nearly all of AQIS’s videos, his face is always concealed.

On September 23, 2019, the United States launched a joint operation with the Afghan military, carrying out a raid in Musa Qala, southern Afghanistan. On October 8, Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) confirmed that along with Umar, six other militants were killed during the operation. The NDS also claimed that Usama Mahmood, AQIS’s spokesman, is now the leader of AQIS.“Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent chief Asim Umar killed in Afghanistan,” The Hindu, October 8, 2019, https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/al-qaeda-in-the-indian-subcontinent-chief-asim-umar-killed-in-afghanistan/article29618954.ece.; Bill Roggio, “Afghan intelligence confirms death of AQIS emir,” Long War Journal, October 8, 2020, https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2019/10/afghan-intelligence-confirms-death-of-aqis-emir.php.

Also Known As

Extremist entity
Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS)
Read Threat Report
Type(s) of Organization:
Insurgent, non-state actor, terrorist, transnational, violent
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Al-Qaeda/affiliate, Islamist, jihadist, Qutbist, Salafist, Sunni, takfiri
Position(s):
AQIS emir (leader) (deceased)

AQIS is al-Qaeda’s newest branch, founded in September 2014. Reportedly operating in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Burma, Bangladesh, and Kashmir, the group seeks to wage jihad in order to establish an Islamic state. 

  • Designations
  • Rhetoric

United States

October 2014

In al-Qaeda’s Resurgance magazine:
“We have little doubt that, sooner or later, the Muslims of India too will come to the realization that their future is inextricably linked to the success of the Afghan Jihad [Taliban and al-Qaeda].”Thomas Joscelyn, “Analysis: Al Qaeda’s ‘Resurgence’ focuses on Indian Subcontinent,” Long War Journal, October 23, 2014, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/10/al_qaedas_resurgence-2.php.

May 3, 2015

Claiming responsibility for the murder of numerous secular bloggers and professors:
“…These assassinations are part of a series of operations initiated by the different branches of al-Qaida on the directions of our respected leader Shaykh Ayman al-Zawahiri and it is equally part of our commitment to fulfill the oath of Sheikh Osama [bin Laden].”Ellen Barry, “Al Qaeda Branch Claims Responsibility for Bangladeshi Blogger’s Killing,” New York Times, May 3, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/world/asia/bangladesh-al-qaeda-indian-subcontinent-attack-on-bloggers.html.

May 3, 2015

“Where are those who would kill these blasphemers, wherever they may be found, even if it has to be done using a dagger or a knife, and by doing so record their names on the Day of Judgment among the devotees of the prophet?”Ellen Barry, “Al Qaeda Branch Claims Responsibility for Bangladeshi Blogger’s Killing,” New York Times, May 3, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/world/asia/bangladesh-al-qaeda-indian-subcontinent-attack-on-bloggers.html.

May 3, 2015

In reference to the attacks in Paris and Copenhagen in early 2015 and the murder of secular bloggers in Bangladesh and Pakistan:
“[Blasphemers have been] taught a lesson in France, Denmark, Pakistan and now in Bangladesh.”Jason Burke, “South Asia al-Qaida group video claims responsibility for blogger murders,” Guardian (London), May 3, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/03/south-asia-al-qaida-group-video-claims-responsibility-for-blogger-murders.

July 2013

Addressing Indian Muslims:
“[Join the] global jihad to give a final push to the collapsing edifice of America…lives are being sacrificed in this jihad to defeat America and its allies everywhere.”Bill Roggio, “Al Qaeda opens branch in the ‘Indian Subcontinent’,” Long War Journal, September 3, 2014, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/09/al_qaeda_opens_branc.php.

June 2013

“From the land of Afghanistan, a caravan is heading toward India. Not on someone's directive. Not on the basis of some governmental policy. But simply on the basis of abiding by God’s command.”Asim Tanveer and Maria Golovnina, “Al Qaeda’s shadowy new ‘emir’ in South Asia handed tough job,” Reuters, September 9 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/09/us-southasia-alqaeda-insight-idUSKBN0H42DN20140909.

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On October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded southern Israel where, in the space of eight hours, hundreds of armed terrorists perpetrated mass crimes of brutality, rape, and torture against men, women and children. In the biggest attack on Jewish life in a single day since the Holocaust, 1,200 were killed, and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza—where 101 remain. One year on, antisemitic incidents have increased by record numbers. 

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