How local & international modules of Islamic State coordinate for big-ticket hits in India

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The probe by Russia’s Federal Security Service has revealed that Mashrabkon Azamov, the suicide bomber, was not the only one trained for a hit job in India. There was another bomber of the IS from Kyrgyzstan who trained to target India.

New Delhi, Aug 27: The arrest of an Islamic State terrorist in Russia has been an awakener for the Indian security agencies. It is now confirmed that there is an international network of the Islamic State which has made India its primary focus.

The Intelligence community has learnt that the networks of the Islamic State have been recruiting people internationally in the name of blasphemy.

The radicalisation is happening on the cyber-space, explained an Intelligence Bureau official to OneIndia. In the Russia case, it was found that the terrorist was recruited and radicalised on messaging app Telegram. The content is already out there in large numbers and the international Intelligence community needs to work collectively to take down such content and clean up the web of such radical material.

India is coordinating with multiple agencies across the world to defeat this problem. The coordination becomes even more important now considering the International wing of the Islamic State working in overdrive mode to target India, the official cited above also explained.

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The probe by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has revealed that Uzbek national Mashrabkon Azamov, the suicide bomber, was not the only one trained for a hit job in India. There was another bomber of the Islamic State from Kyrgyzstan who trained to target India. He was trained in Turkey by radical Islamists, the probe further revealed.

The Kyrgyzstan national returned to his country from Moscow and was to take another route to reach India, the probe further revealed. India on the other hand have sent a list of specific questions that the FSB would have to ask Azamov. India is also in touch with Moscow to seek permission to join the probe.

India’s coordination with the international Intelligence community has been strong in recent times. It was following a tip off by the Jordanian Intelligence that an online radicalisation camp in Tamil Nadu’s Ambur town had been busted.

Following this, the NIA carried out investigations following which one Meer Anaas Ali was picked from Tamil Nadu. The third-year engineering student was picked up from Ambur town.

In the Ali case, the NIA learnt that through the online radicalisation camp, these operatives were not just in touch with the Indian Muslims but those abroad as well. It worked as a well-oiled mechanism. In this context, the questioning of Azamov would be extremely important to find out the exact role that the Indian module is playing in this international game.

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Another official said that the Indian module could be providing the logistical support to the international players to carry out a big hit in the country. It has also been learnt during the investigation that the international players would carry out big ticket hits, while the local modules would focus on the smaller leaders and also target Hindu Temples.