Uttar Pradesh anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has foiled the plans of a terror module planning to target Shia clerics and Islamic education bodies in the state.
According to investigators, the self-radicalised group intended to eliminate three Muslim clerics from Lucknow who had openly criticised ISIS ideology. Both Sufi and Shia clergy from the city have been vocal in protest against pro-ISIS beliefs.
The officials claim that the terrorists had gathered intel on the daily routines of all three Muslim leaders and were following their daily routines in preparation of an attack.
A diary and documents seized from their rented house in Haji colony revealed their targets.
Saifullah, who was gunned down by cops in an encounter this month was staying in Lucknow with Atif, Danish Akhtar alias Jaffar and Syed Mir Hussain alias Humza.
Police had claimed that they were trying to set up an ISIS-inspired terror module of Khorasan, the branch of Islamic State based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
‘They wanted to eliminate three Muslim clerics associated with a prestigious organisation, as they had raised their voices against ISIS ideology’, said a senior police officer.
However, investigating agency is yet to establish if the group’s motive was also to spread communal violence in the state by attacking their targets.
The officer said that documents recovered from the terrorists show that they were also prepared to fight with commandos in case of a hostage-like situation.
Their computers had training videos and literature related to past terror attacks. The case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) this week.
A pro-Islamic channel called Al- Hindi on Telegram, an encrypted chat platform, had also praised Mohammad Saifullah, who was killed in a counter-terror operation.
They termed him as a ‘soldier of Khilafah from India’ and incited Muslims to follow his example and launch lone-wolf attacks.
Al-Hindi channel made a series of posts on Saifullah as an example to launch attacks in India, a jihadi monitoring intelligence body SITE reported.
Al-Hindi is not the only ISIS-backed channel. There are several other channels operated by jihadis, particularly by the ISIS and Al Qaeda for encrypted communication.
Just a week after the UP ATS crackdown, a pro-Islamic State media group warned of attacks in India and published a graphic depicting the Taj Mahal in Agra as a possible target.
The graphic by the Ahwaal Ummat Media Center was posted on a channel of Telegram on March 14.
The graphic features a fighter in combat fatigues and black headgear armed with an assault rifle and a rocket-propelled grenade facing the 17th century monument in Agra.
An inset in the graphic features another image of the Taj Mahal within cross-hairs with the words ‘new target’ below it.
There is another image of a van with the Arabic text Agra istishhadi (Agra martyrdom-seeker), implying a suicide attack.
Security around the historic building has been beefed up after the issue came to notice.
India beefs up security at Taj Mahal after IS threat
India has boosted security at the Taj Mahal after a pro-Islamic State group reportedly warned of attacks in the country and threatened the 17th century monument to love, police said on Friday.
Images published in local media showed a fighter in combat fatigues and black headgear at the Taj Mahal, India’s biggest tourist attraction, and the words ‘new target’ as the backdrop.
The US-based Site Intelligence Group, which tracks jihadi activity, said the pro-IS Ahwaal Ummat Media Center had originally published the graphic on Telegram on Tuesday.
‘There have been no specific intelligence inputs or any official alerts, but going by media reports we have stepped up security at the Taj,’ senior police superintendent Preetender Singh told AFP on Friday.
‘Security drills are being carried out on a six-hourly basis instead of the usual daily drill.’
Members of the bomb disposal squad and Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team have been deployed with additional personnel patrolling the Yamuna river which flows next to the Taj, he said.
India’s leaders say the IS group does not have influence in the country of over 1.2 billion people, which has a large but traditionally moderate Muslim population.
There have been some reports of Indians going to fight for the group in Iraq and Syria, but the numbers are low relative to the size of the population.
Last week, police said an IS sympathiser accused in a train explosion that injured 10 people had been killed in a stand-off as they tried to arrest him.
Singh said the nature of any threat remained unclear but police did not want to leave anything to chance.
‘Based on the inputs so far, we have beefed up the security and are fully prepared to handle any eventuality,’ he said.
‘The Taj is in safe hands.’
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