New Delhi: Indian Mujahideen operatives who fled India are joining hands with the ISIS, causing more worry for the Indian security agencies who have got inputs that the banned outfit Ansar-ut-Tawheed and ISIS were planning to strike in India.
The Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (AuT) is learnt to be encouraging youth in the country to participate in jihad in both Syria and Afghanistan as well as propagate acts of violence against the Indian government. It may be recalled that on the sixth anniversary of the 2008 Batla House encounter, the outfit had hailed Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives who died in the encounter as its “martyrs”. The move came as the first attempt by any terror group based in the Af-Pak region to show allegiance to the IM operatives killed in the encounter. The Indian Mujahideen itself had not claimed responsibility nor sent mails following the encounter, which had been its trademark after every terror attack.
Intelligence agencies are now worried that the IM — which was essentially a homegrown terror outfit getting support from Pak-based Lashkar-e-Taiba — may resurface under the umbrella of the ISIS.
The outfit had also uploaded a video of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi with Hindi, Urdu and Tamil subtitles.
“Instead of forming its sleeper cells, the Internet and social media has become another platform for the terror outfit to scout for vulnerable youth belonging to the minority community. All agencies are keeping a close tab on the suspect areas where the IM was most active,” a top official said.
The SIMI suspects and strongholds in various states are also under the scanner of the central agencies.
It is based on these intelligence inputs that the Delhi police last month alerted the home ministry about possible terror strikes being carried out by the AUT and the ISIS together at various places across the country.
The Delhi police even registered a case under the Unlawful Prevention Activities Act to probe the conspiracy.
