India On Radar Of ISIS Arm That Struck Kabul Airport, Intel Sources Say

Named after an old term for the region Khorasan, ISIS-K first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in late 2014 and quickly established a reputation for extreme brutality.

The ISIS unit believed to be behind Thursday's deadly Kabul bombings have India in their crosshairs with establishing the rule of their caliphate among lofty ideological goals, sources in the Indian intelligence community have told NDTV. According to the government sources who requested not to be named, having secured a solid foothold in Afghanistan, the Islamic State Khorasan, also known as IS-K or ISIS-K, hopes to "export jihad to Central Asia and later in India". Carrying out terror attacks and recruiting young people are on top of their agenda for this, they said, adding, "Ideologically, they want to establish the rule of the caliphate in India." They said young people from Kerala and Mumbai have joined ISIS and the violent group finds significant traction among radicalised individuals.