Defence News
Intel agencies wary over AQIS threat to target cities
The Indian security establishment is taking the threat issued by the al-Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) in a recent video very seriously as the outfit asks ‘jihadi’ fighters to target the Army outside its “small, secure area of Kashmir” by striking cities like Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru.
“The specific call by AQIS spokesperson Usama Mahmoud, a Pakistani, asking Kashmiri ‘fighters’ and Muslims across the subcontinent to target the Army in Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru so that it ‘comes to its senses’ is reminiscent of Indian Mujahideen’s modus operandi of sending out warning letters and e-mails just before terror blasts in various Indian cities.
So, all necessary precautions are being taken,” an intelligence official told TOI.
Mansoor Asghar Peerbhoy, head of the Indian Mujahideen’s media cell and a former employee of Yahoo, used to issue warning letters/emails, allegedly at ISI’s behest, before attacks by the outfit.
Such emails were received before the September 13, 2008, Delhi blasts, besides the Ahmedabad and Jaipur blasts.
The cities mentioned have been alerted in the wake of the AQIS video, agencies are worried, but not panicky, about the impact of the threats as neither of the two groups has a notable presence or following in the Valley, a senior intelligence official said.
Pro-IS media channel Al-Qaraar had on Tuesday identified the alleged Kashmiri fighter seen in a video released on Christmas as Abu Yahya al-Istashtadi — the “Ameer of Kashmir”.
The video had called on Kashmiri ‘fighters and Muslims to pledge allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.
