( CNN ) -- A new regional branch of al Qaeda infiltrated Pakistan 's navy and tried to hijack a vessel earlier this month to launch rocket attacks on American ships in the Indian Ocean , a site that monitors terror groups said . It was the first major offensive by the newly formed al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent . The SITE Institute 's monitoring service said the group 's spokesman , Usama Mahmoud , on Twitter compared the Pakistani naval officers involved in the attempted hijacking to Nadal Hasan , the U.S. Army psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood . Hasan was sentenced to death by a military court for the November 5 , 2009 , rampage , which authorities said the American-born Muslim carried out because he did not want to deploy to Afghanistan to fight other Muslims . Mahmoud 's tweet on Wednesday said the group sought to avenge the `` bloodshed of Muslims '' from Afghanistan to Syria as well as what it called U.S. control and superiority over `` ours straits , our channels and our waters . '' The September 6 hijacking attempt of the Pakastani navy vessel PNS Zulfiqar in Karachi ended after a fire fight in which three attackers were killed and seven others arrested , Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told parliament on September 10 . A naval officer was killed . `` We can not rule out inside help in this attack because , without it , the miscreants could not breach security , '' Asif said . A Pakistani navy source said the investigation is still under way and the attack could be linked to any network . According to SITE , al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent claimed credit for the attack and even posted a picture and schematic of the Pakistani naval ship on Twitter . `` These mujahideen had taken control of the Pakistani ship , and they were advancing towards the American fleet when the Pakistani army stopped them , '' said the tweet quoted by SITE . `` As a result , the mujahideen , the lions of Allah and benefactors of the Ummah , sacrificed their lives for Allah , and the Pakistani soldiers spoiled their hereafter by giving up their lives in defense of the enemies of the Ummah the Americans , '' the group said on Twitter . After the attack , three naval officials were arrested during a raid on the outskirts of the city of Quetta near the Afghan border . The officials said the suspects were trying to escape to Afghanistan . Earlier this month , al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri , in an effort to reclaim relevancy , announced the creation of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent , led by Asim Umar , which will include at least one faction of the Pakistan Taliban . According to a translation by the SITE Institute , Mahmoud said the group 's basic goals included jihad against America , supporting the Taliban and establishing a caliphate ( implicitly rejecting the Caliphate claimed by ISIS leader Bakr al-Baghdadi ) . The announcement steps up the philosophical battle between al Qaeda and ISIS about how the dream of the caliphate , to which Muslims the world over would owe allegiance , is achieved . Mahmoud spoke of `` a caliphate where the emirs are proud in their closeness to the honest scholars ... a caliphate in whose shadow even the disbelieving people of dhimma ( non-Muslim citizens of an Islamic state ) have a life of safety and security . '' The last condition was clearly aimed at ISIS and its merciless campaign against non-Muslims and non-Sunni Muslims in both Iraq and Syria . Not to be outdone , ISIS ' propaganda machine recently posted photographs showing residents of the Iraqi city of Nineveh enjoying `` prosperity ... under the shade of the caliphate . '' Al-Zawahiri may be counting on the withdrawal of most U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan as his best chance of reviving al Qaeda 's fortunes . Agent Storm : Inside al Qaeda for the CIA . CNN 's Sophia Saifi , Elwyn Lopez and Tom Lister contributed to this report .
New al Qaeda branch infiltrates Pakistan 's navy and tries to hijack ships . The plot included plans to launch rocket attacks on Pakistani ships in the Indian Ocean , they say . Attack was first by the newly formed al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent .