Sultan Aziz Azzam, a spokesperson for Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), was arrested by Pakistani authorities this year, a recent report submitted to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has revealed.<\/p>\n
IS-K is a branch of the Islamic State terrorist organisation active in Central and South Asia, according to the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank.<\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s 16th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team noted that IS-K\u2019s ability to operate in the region had been degraded as a result of high-profile arrests by Pakistan, such as that of Azzam from the border region this May.<\/p>\n
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said that Azzam was arrested by intelligence agencies during an operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.<\/p>\n
The APP report claimed that following his arrest, IS-K propaganda arms, such as the Al-Azaim Foundation, had suffered a major blow.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, the capability of [IS-K] has been degraded as a result of counter-terrorism operations,\u201d the UN report read. \u201cKey [IS-K] commanders and ideologues have been neutralised, and the numbers of [IS-K] fighters have likely been reduced. Several plotted attacks have been disrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n
It further noted that IS-K\u2019s capability to operate freely on both sides of the border has been disrupted, but acknowledged that Kabul\u2019s claims of no terrorist groups operating in or from their soil are \u201cnot credible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Taliban contend that no terrorist groups operate in or from Afghanistan,\u201d the report read. \u201cMember state reporting, however, indicates that a range of terrorist groups still operate in the country, with varying degrees of autonomy and oversight from Taliban authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
It added: \u201cIn North Afghanistan and areas close to the Pakistani borders, [IS-K] is reported to have indoctrinated children in madressahs, establishing a suicide training course for minors around 14 years of age.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a December 8 letter, Pakistan\u2019s Permanent Representative to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmed, requested that the report be brought to the attention of the UN Security Council (UNSC).<\/p>\n
Who is Azzam?
\nThe UNSC says that Azzam held the position of IS-K spokesperson since the group first established itself in Afghanistan in 2015. Islamabad-based platform The Khorasan Diary stated that he is the group\u2019s second-in-command, while the European Council says he operated their media branch, Al-Azaim Media.<\/p>\n
Shan A Zain wrote for Jamestown Foundation\u2019s Militant Leadership Monitor journal that Azzam was born in Afghanistan\u2019s Nangarhar province and, before becoming IS-K\u2019s chief propagandist, worked for at least three local radio stations and wrote books and poetry.<\/p>\n
His major work, Travelers of the Maze, tells the purported stories of IS fighters living in the Spin Ghar mountains, according to Zain. Excerpts were shared over Telegram by would-be recruits.<\/p>\n
\u201cSultan Aziz Azzam has been credited with recruiting IS members to carry out high-profile attacks in Afghanistan,\u201d Zain wrote. \u201cHe has written several books and articles narrating stories about [fighters] in order to inspire people to join IS ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs [IS-K\u2019s] spokesperson, Azam has played an instrumental role in spreading ISIL\u2019s violent \u2026 ideology, glorifying and justifying terrorist acts,\u201d the UNSC\u2019s website reads.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding on his former experience as an Afghan journalist, his activity as [IS-K\u2019s] spokesperson has increased [IS-K\u2019s] visibility and influence among its followers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Azzam claimed responsibility on behalf of IK-K for an August 26, 2021, suicide attack near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul and circulated messages from the group following the assassination of three female journalists on March 2, 2021 and a prison attack in Jalalabad on August 3, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sultan Aziz Azzam, a spokesperson for Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), was arrested by Pakistani authorities this year, a recent report submitted to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has revealed. IS-K is a branch of the Islamic State terrorist organisation active in Central and South Asia, according to the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-and-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14314,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14312\/revisions\/14314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}