Islam in India > ISIS sympathizer stabs two Hindus in Mumbai

 

India: Islamic State-inspired tutor stabs Hindus after they fail to recite the Islamic profession of faith

Apr 30, 2026 1:00 pm By Ashlyn Davis10 Comments

An unprovoked Islamic State-style knife attack in the Mira Road area near Mumbai, Maharashtra, has triggered widespread alarm and high-level investigation, with authorities probing suspected jihadist reasons behind the assault. The incident occurred unexpectedly at around 4:00 AM on Monday, April 27, 2026, in the Naya Nagar locality, an area with a significant Muslim population, where a Muslim man attacked two Hindu security guards at an under-construction site after questioning their religion and asking them to recite the Islamic Kalma, that is, the profession of faith.

According to police officials, the accused, identified as Zaib Zuber Ansari, initially approached one of the guards under the pretext of seeking directions. He reportedly returned shortly afterward and began questioning the guards about their religious identity. Investigators say he demanded that they recite the Islamic verse, and when they failed to do so, he attacked them with a sharp weapon, leaving both men seriously injured.

Zaib Zuber Ansari, Screenshot, X

The victims, identified as Rajkumar Mishra and Subroto Ramesh Sen, sustained multiple stab wounds. One of the injured guards reached a nearby hospital on his own, while a passerby assisted the other. Both are currently undergoing treatment.

Police launched an immediate search operation using CCTV footage from the area, and were able to track down and arrest the accused within approximately 90 minutes of the attack. A case has been registered against him under charges including attempted murder and promoting enmity between different groups. Given the nature of the incident, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has taken over key aspects of the investigation.

Apologists for Islam have repeatedly cited lack of education and poverty as an excuse for Islamic terrorism, but this case has once again refuted their argument, as Ansari was neither uneducated nor economically disadvantaged. Ansari is a science graduate who spent several years in the United States before returning to India around 2019. He was reportedly working as an online tutor and living alone in Mira Road.

Media houses are now trying to humanize the attacker by running a narrative that as his Afghan wife left him and he was suffering from isolation, he went out and attacked two innocent workers just doing their job. However, people are no longer buying into attempts to sympathize with jihadis after they attack innocent people.

According to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), a search of accused Zaib Zuber Ansari’s residence led investigators to handwritten notes in which he expressed an intention to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Sources further indicated that terms such as “jihad” and “Gaza” were also written in these notes. Authorities are currently conducting a detailed forensic analysis of his electronic devices, including mobile phones and computers, to trace his digital footprint and identify any possible links to online jihad networks.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has indicated that the attack appears to be ideologically motivated and may have been intended to target individuals based on religion, raising concerns about attempts to incite communal tension.

As of the latest updates, the accused remains in custody, and the ATS continues to interrogate him, while expanding the investigation to include his contacts, travel history, and online activities. Authorities are also working to determine whether he had attempted to reach out to jihad groups, or was influenced solely through digital propaganda. Officials are particularly concerned about the role of online platforms in facilitating jihad recruitment without physical contact with jihad organizations.

The attack appears to be an isolated incident, but its nature has raised serious concerns about emerging patterns of jihad recruitment and the potential for similar jihad attacks in urban areas. While investigators have not found any direct links between the individual and the Islamic State (ISIS), and the incident is being classified as a lone-wolf attack, it is even more concerning. Intelligence agencies and law enforcement can monitor and track organized terror plots to some extent, but predicting or preventing the actions of random Muslims who appear to live ordinary lives is far more difficult. There is no possible way to predict when a jihad-inclined Muslim might suddenly choose to go out to confront people on the streets, demand that they recite the Kalma, and stab them if they are unable to do so.

Mumbai is neither a border region nor an area typically associated with active terrorism; it is one of India’s largest and busiest cities, where millions go about their daily routines. If ISIS-inspired jihadis begin to target ordinary citizens in a city such as Mumbai, it could significantly disrupt the sense of safety and normalcy that urban life depends on.

Middle East geo-politics > Erdogan's biggest fears, Israel's biggest hopes

 

Erdogan on Israel, Iran, and the Kurds

Apr 30, 2026 2:00 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald2 Comments

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has firm views on Israel: he doesn’t like the Jewish state, and wishes it would disappear. He is convinced it practices “apartheid” at home and “genocide” abroad. He has fantasized about creating, and heading, a pan-Islamic army that would be able to defeat the IDF, so that “from the river and the sea/Palestine will be free” — which is the thinly-disguised call for Israel to disappear entirely, to be replaced by a state of “Palestine.”

Erdogan has watched with alarm Israel’s swift battering of Iran, a display of advanced weaponry, spectacular intelligence, and a brilliant and brave soldiery, made up of both battle-hardened professionals and reservists. But he is not entirely displeased at the weakening of the Islamic Republic. He wants Iran weakened, but not enough to lead to the regime’s collapse, that could mean Iranian Kurds would gain full autonomy. More on this can be found here: 

As Israel becomes a dominant force in the Middle East, where does Turkey stand? – analysis

by Amichai Stein, Jerusalem Post, April 27, 2026:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian Presidential Executive Office, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

As the smoke cleared over Tehran after the beginning of the Israeli-US strikes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quick to point the finger. “This all began following Netanyahu’s provocations,” the Turkish leader stated, “we feel deep sorrow and great concern.” He went further, issuing a chilling warning: “God willing, I have no doubt that Israel will pay the price for this.”

The casual observer might imagine that Turkey, fighting as it is with Iran for dominance of the region, would welcome the strike against the Islamic Republic.

However, Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, a leading expert on Turkish affairs at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, explains that Turkey has a vested interest in the survival of the current Iranian regime.

“Ankara does not want to see a new ‘surprise’ in the form of regime change,” Yanarocak notes. “They are interested in the continuation of the regime because if a revolution occurs, Turkey’s monopoly as the primary bridge between the West and the Middle East simply disappears.”

Policy expert Jonathan Adiri agrees, suggesting that Turkey prefers a crippled neighbor over a liberated one.

“Turkey wants a non-nuclear, weak Iran,” Adiri says. “They want a sort of ‘weakened virus’ in the region. An Iran that is pro-Western and working with the Americans would become a magnet for foreign investment, which would directly hurt the Turkish economy.”

Right now, Turkey sees itself as the chief Muslim interlocutor with America. It has been a member of NATO since 1952, and in the past, the Americans used the Incirlik air base to spy on the Soviets and to pre-position war planes in case of need in the region. However, in recent years, Turkey has sometimes refused to allow the Americans to use that base to attack ISIS fighters in Iraq. Right now, Turkey continues, despite Erdogan’s hysterical anti-Israel animus, to be the main bridge between the Muslim world and the West, while Iran is a confirmed enemy of the West, especially of the United States, the Islamic Republic’s “Great Satan.”

Perhaps the most potent driver of Erdogan’s anxiety is the Kurdish question. For decades, the Iranian and Turkish regimes have shared a common interest in suppressing Kurdish nationalist aspirations. A destabilized Iran could lead to the emergence of an autonomous or independent Kurdish entity on Turkey’s southern border – a prospect Erdogan finds intolerable.

According to several sources, Erdogan and other senior Turkish officials pressured US President Donald Trump not to give a green light to an Israeli operation that would have resulted in Kurdish fighters in Iran starting a rebellion against the Iranian regime.

For decades, the Israelis have had clandestine ties with Kurds in Iraq and Iran. Beginning in the 1960s, Israel provided weapons and training to Kurdish forces — known as the peshmerga — in Iraq, and it still does. Since Muslim fanatics took over Iran 47 years ago, Israel has supplied weapons intermittently to Kurdish militias in that country as well. After the American pullout of forces from Syria, Israel decided to supply weapons to Syrian Kurds in their quasi-autonomous stronghold of Rojava. Erdogan is fearful of any Kurdish separatist movement in Iran or Iraq or Syria, that if successful, might prompt the Kurds in Turkey to join forces with those other Kurds in order to realize the ancient dream of an independent Kurdistan. Turkey wants Iran to be weakened, but left strong enough to suppress the Kurdish militias inside the country.

Adira [sic] points out that Erdogan and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan drew a red line with Washington regarding the use of Kurdish forces from Iraq to move against Iran.

“Erdogan told his public: ‘Case closed,’ regarding the Kurdish story,” Adiri observes. “He is deathly afraid of that box being reopened. From Ankara’s perspective, the success of a Kurdish-led or Kurdish-supported uprising in Iran would have a domino effect on Kurds in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.”…

That is exactly what Israel would want: that “domino effect” following upon the 15 million Kurds in Iran carrying out a successful separatist uprising. After the shellacking the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian army received in recent months from Israeli and American forces, this may be the Iranian Kurds’ best chance to rise up. If they do so, they can almost certainly count on Israel’s support. The IDF could supply the Kurds with both intelligence and weapons, including missiles, drones, artillery, and likely use its fighter jets, too, in order to halt with bombs away any attempted advance by Iranian forces.