Members of an Iraqi volunteer force train in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday. (Photo: AP)

New Delhi: Around 25,000 Shia Muslims from India are ready to fly to Iraq to defend their holy shrines in Karbala, one of Indias largest Shia organisation, reported Teleraph UK.

India which holds a population of more than 5 crore Shia Muslims have their close ties to Iran and Iraq. Also the holy site of Karbala, where the grandson of Prophet Muhammed was martyred, holds the faith of Shia sects.

Observers belive that the recruitment campaign video of ISIS in which three Sunni volunteers including two young men from Cardiff had provoked Shia communities across the world to defend the government of prime minister Nouri Al Maliki.

The drive to lure protagonists from each side of the rift in Islam, highlights the potential for the conflict to become the biggest Sunni-Shia sectarian battle since Saddam Hussein’s forces invaded Ayatollah Khomeini’s Shia revolution in Iran in 1980.

ISIS leaders have vowed to take their insurgency to Karbala and Najaf, home of two of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines.

The recruitment video broadcast by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

The rift between Shia and Sunni Muslims dates back to the 7th Century succession battle between the Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Imam Hussein and members of Umayyad clan who sought to turn the Caliphate into a dynasty.

The resulting war became a rout of Hussein’s followers and their siege at Karbala. They were starved, many died from thirst and the survivors were massacred. Their ‘martyrdom’ is marked every winter when Shias beat their chests and flay themselves with blades to repent their failure to come to Hussein’s aid.

India’s Shias said they would not stand by while Karbala is attacked again. Their recruits include bankers, students, doctors and engineers and their leaders have written to the Indian government to stress Isis’ support for terrorist attacks in India too.

“We have 25,000 volunteers who have filled in the forms and given their passports and are ready to go any moment. Another hundred thousand have got in touch with us and have pledged their support. We are looking at a million volunteers to form a human chain around the holy shrines of Karbala and Najaf, in case the Isis attacks. We will do everything to stop the advance of the enemies”, spokesman of Anjuman-e-Haideri which protects Delhi’s own ‘Karbala’ shrine said Syed Bilal to Telgraph UK .

“The volunteers are educated young men from different backgrounds. We do not plan to train them in arms. We will go there to fight them bare handed”, he added.

A member of an Iraqi volunteer force holds a weapon during training

in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of

Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday. (Photo: AP)

Shabbir Hussian, a Shia masters student in Delhi, said he was ready to join the battle immediately. “We are ready to die and kill for our holy shrines. We won’t allow the desecration of our religious places”, he said.

Watch Video: British man in Isis recruitment video 'obsessed with jihad'

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