According to various rumors, he was allegedly a commander of Al Qaeda or a former member of the Haqqani network, now one of the most powerful and feared factions of the Afghan Taliban.
– What’s the threat? –
Until 2020, eclipsed by the Taliban and targeted by a campaign of American airstrikes and drones, the IS-K faction was losing its influence.
But the arrival of the mysterious new leader seems to have marked a turning point in his fortune.
According to researcher Abdul Sayed of online extremism tracker ExTrac, Shahad has placed “a renewed emphasis on urban warfare and symbolic violence.”
the IS-K has chosen easy targets like religious places, educational job function email database establishments and public places like hospitals etc. to spread fears of its terrorism,” he said. said Sayed.
The Taliban and the IS-K are both militant Sunni groups, but while the new Taliban-led regime in Kabul has vowed to protect the Shia minority, its rival remains determined to stamp out “apostates” and “hypocrites. “.
As in Iraq, where the original ISIS targeted Shiite communities to foment sectarian war, in Afghanistan the IS-K threatened the Hazara, a predominantly Shiite ethnic minority.
– Where did the rivalry start? –