The new group "is the fruit of a blessed effort of more than two years to gather the mujahedeen in the Indian subcontinent into a single entity," al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri said in the video, which was seen online by the SITE monitoring group. But since the death of its figurehead, it has been somewhat eclipsed, first by its own offshoots in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and now by the so-called "Islamic State" fighting in Iraq and Syria. SAFE HAVEN 
 
 Over the years Zawahri and his predecessor Osama bin Laden, killed by U.S. forces in 2011, repeatedly pledged allegiance to Mullah Omar, in return for the safe haven he granted their followers in Afghanistan. Al-Zawahri said the group, Qaedat al-Jihad in the Indian subcontinent, would fight for an Islamic state and laws across the region, "which was part of the Muslims' territories before it was occupied by the infidel enemy."
– With an even more brutal group of Islamic extremists capturing the world's attention, is al-Qaeda feeling neglected? In what analysts see as an effort to grab the spotlight from ISIS, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has announced the formation of an Indian branch of the terror network that will "raise the flag of jihad" across the region, reports Al Jazeera. In a 55-minute video posted online, Zawahri called the new entity the "fruit of a blessed effort of more than two years to gather the mujahedeen in the Indian subcontinent" and vowed to bring Islamic law to the entire region. Al-Qaeda disowned ISIS early this year, and while Zawahri didn't mention the former affiliate by name, he appeared to be taking swipes at it with comments like "Discord is a curse and torment, and disgrace for the believers and glory for the disbelievers," reports Reuters. Three Indian states with high Muslim populations have been placed on alert, though it's not clear how much of a threat the new entity is. Al-Qaeda "is struggling for its legitimacy in the eyes of the radicalized Muslim world," a top Indian security analyst tells the AP. Osama bin Laden is dead, and al-Qaeda's "entire top leadership, apart from Zawahri and a few others, one by one have been decimated by the American drone attacks," the analyst says.