NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — Indian intelligence agencies on Thursday identified all 12 young men suspected of raising ISIL flag in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, sources in the Indian Home Ministry told Sputnik on Thursday.
Witnesses observed several of the extremist group’s flags hoisted in the regional capital of Srinagar on Friday at a rally protesting the killing of a separatist a day earlier. Demonstrators unfurled ISIL black flags with white Arabic inscriptions alongside the Pakistani flag.
Sources declined to elaborate on whether some or all of the Sunni fundamentalist group’s supporters have been detained.
The move is aimed at maligning the intelligence agencies’ reputation, the Indian Home Ministry sources told Sputnik.
The Jammu and Kashmir region is a subject of territorial dispute between India and Pakistan, marring relations between the two countries since the end of British rule in 1947. Following four wars and a number of military conflicts, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire in 2003.
Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the truce ever since.
ISIL has captured large parts of Iraq since 2014 and Syria since 2012, establishing a caliphate on the territories under its control. ISIL affiliates are believed to operate in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and North Africa.
