DHAKA: India on Tuesday declared a ban on the Islamic State (IS), days after having detained an engineer for running a popular Twitter account extolling the militant group’s military campaign.

India has the world’s third-largest population of Muslims, but they have largely shunned Islamist causes. Police say only four Indians are known to have joined IS, and one has since returned and is in custody.

Until now, India had held off on a ban on IS because of the group’s lack of activity in the country and worries over the fate of 39 Indian construction workers missing in Iraq this year, who are believed to be held by the group.

Officials had also suggested it would be harder to track sympathizers if the group was banned, driving them towards covert activity, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1512 HRS, DEC 16, 2014