The Islamic State terrorist from Kazakhstan who was captured by Russia's FSB intelligence agency on Monday said that he intended to attack "one of the representatives of the ruling circles of India," and India's national security agencies are now pursuing the leads he gave them. The self-radicalized terrorist, according to the Russian agency's video release, wanted to exact revenge on India for comments made against the Prophet by a representative for the country's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who was later suspended for her remarks.
When Ajit Doval visited Moscow for NSA-level meetings last week, HT has learned that Russia's Secretary of the National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, informed his counterpart, National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval, of the IS terrorist's capture. The whole brief is available to Indian of the terrorist, who was recruited by an IS leader as a suicide bomber in Turkey, and are also following leads to unearth those who may have provided logistical support to the would-be bomber if he had managed to make his way from Moscow to India.
His indoctrination was carried out remotely via Telegram messaging accounts and in-person encounters with an IS representative in Istanbul, according to the FSB's public relations division.
The individual said in an interrogation video that was made public by the FSB that he had received special training after swearing allegiance to the Islamic State's "amir" or leader in April.
The man was instructed to fly to India to perform a terrorist act after travelling to Russia to obtain the required paperwork, according to the FSB. According to those with knowledge of the situation, the Moscow route was chosen because of Syria's and other Middle Eastern countries' more stricter visa requirements.
"I was supposed to get everything there," [India] to commit a terrorist attack at the behest of the IS for insulting the Prophet Mohammed,” the video showed the man as saying.
Indian security agencies have been on high alert since former BJP spokeswoman Nupur Sharma made a statement about the Prophet on live television. Both Al Qaeda and Islamic State have emphasized the contentious remarks. Even the Afghan-based Islamic State-Khorasan Province vowed to launch strikes in India.
ISKP, Al Qaeda, and the Muslim Brotherhood may have been enlisted by anti-Indian elements with the intention of inciting violence against the nation through regional extremist organizations, according to information obtained by HT. While the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Muslim Brotherhood share the same goal of establishing an Islamic state, ISKP also includes elements from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and even radicalized young men from India (mainly from Kerala).
When former Egyptian president and Muslim Brotherhood figure Mohammed Morsi was given the death penalty in May 2015, PFI previously organized a protest outside the Egyptian embassy in New Delhi. PFI has voiced opposition to the Palestine issue in 2012 and 2014 with national "I am Gaza" rallies in support of Hamas, a Muslim Brotherhood branch. In Kuwait, Turkey, and Qatar, which led the demonstrations over Nupur Sharma's remarks, the Muslim Brotherhood is active. But Saudi Arabia and the UAE forbid the Brotherhood.
In response to the contentious remarks, Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent had already threatened to conduct suicide strikes in New Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh.
