Security agencies alert after Uzbek bomber revelations
The national security agencies are on high alert as pan-Islamic terrorist organizations like Islamic State and Al Qaida are trying to radicalize Muslims within and outside India to target the country in the name of blasphemy.
The security agencies are not alone in this effort as other friendly countries like US, Jordan, Russia, UAE, and Saudi Arabia are sharing footprints of Islamic radicalization in cyber-space and encrypted communications with New Delhi to prevent any untoward incident in hinterland India.
Investigations into the detention of Islamic State suicide bomber Mashrabkon Azamov by Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, has revealed that there was one more Kyrgyzstan national who was trained to target India by Islamists in Turkey along with the detained Uzbek national. It is learnt that the Kyrgyz national returned to his country from Moscow, which was the route to India being used by the two attackers.
While the Indian security agencies are still awaiting the interrogation report of 30-year-old Azamov, they have sent a list of specific questions to their Russian counterparts so that the attacker could be interrogated on those lines. Indian security agencies are also in touch with their Uzbek and Kyrgyz counterparts to seek permission to join investigations.
While the plan to attack India was foiled by the Russian agency, the Jordanian intelligence alerted their Indian counterparts towards the online radicalization of engineering student Meer Anaas Ali, resident of Ambur Town in Tamil Nadu, by the Islamic State. The third-year engineering student was being brainwashed by the Islamic State online radicalizers to punish India for insulting the Prophet.
The student was arrested on July 31 July by the Tamil Nadu police and is currently remanded in judicial custody. According to local police, Anaas had links with the ultra-conservative Wahhabi proscribed outfit and was communicating with his online handlers using social media platforms like Telegram and Instagram. He was tasked by his Islamic State handlers to target non-Muslims and kill an important personality to instill fear among the communities and polarize them on religious lines.
Over the past two months, the associate intelligence agencies have been alerting their Indian counterparts over ferment within the pan-Islamist terrorist groups to target India over the insult to Prophet. Organizations like Muslim Brotherhood, which has a strong presence in Turkey, Kuwait, and Qatar, apart from the Pakistani deep state are trying to add fuel to fire by instigating radicalized elements to “teach India a lesson.” While Pakistani cadres within the Islamic State of Khorasan Province are being used by Rawalpindi to target New Delhi through Indian recruits in the Wahabbi outfit, the Muslim Brotherhood is using its links with Islamist organizations in India to engineer violence in the name of religion.