Coal mines becoming a strategic target for ISIS in Pakistan

Nahla Abdelmonem

The Islamic State group works hard to increase its influence in the Asian region, considered the geographical cradle and stronghold of al-Qaeda.

To do this, the terrorist organization does its best to secure the necessary financial resources by controlling main sources of income in the region.

Mines and mining areas come at the center of ISIS attention. Eleven people were killed and dozens of others injured on January 3, 2021, after ISIS attacked a coal mine in the southwestern Pakistani region of Balochistan, Pakistani authorities said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said the attacks reflected the brutal nature of ISIS.

He instructed police to work hard to arrest those carrying out the attack.

Terrorists and mines

Political and economic motivations control the actions of terrorist groups, along with their intellectual ideologies.

ISIS keeps its eyes focused on targets that can bring in the necessary money for financing its activities. This is why it always tries to control natural resources.

The attack on the coal mine in Balochistan is a prelude to the implementation of an ISIS strategy, one it started in other countries, especially in Mozambique where it controls gas-rich areas.

Al-Qaeda applies the same strategy in Somalia which contains high-quality coal mines. Al-Qaeda also wants to control gold mines in Burkina Faso.

ISIS-Qaeda struggle

Asia acquires a great importance for ISIS. The organization’s expanding influence in the countries of the continent poses direct threats to al-Qaeda which considers the continent its main stronghold. ISIS also wants to be the largest terrorist organization on the international scene.

“ISIS competes strongly with al-Qaeda, especially in Asia,” terrorism expert Ahmed Kamel al-Beheiri told The Reference. “This is quite manifest in the repeated attacks the organization stages in different countries in the continent.”