Police in Delhi on high alert over intel on terror strike plan by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists
Police in Delhi and J&K are on high alert after receiving an input from an intelligence agency about an impending strike by a three-member death squad of Jaish-e-Mohammed over the Citizenship Amendment Act.
According to a secret communication seen by TOI, three highly trained assassins belonging to north Waziristan, Bahawalpur and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa allegedly infiltrated into India from Sialkot sector in mid-July.
The informer also told the Indian intelligence that the code names given to the trio at the camp near Bahawalpur were Gul, Juma and Shakeel. However, they were given Afghan identities and related documents at the time of departure.
The three have undergone a special three-month-long ‘Askari’ training, an advanced course in use of weapons, directly under the outfit’s de facto emir Mufti Abdul Rauf Ashgar.
The input also stated that two Kashmiri residents (over ground workers) were given the task to help with reconnaissance in Delhi. However, the targets or the nature of strike is not clear yet. Sources said that it could be an assassination attempt, as per some intercepted chatter, but haven’t ruled out the possibility of JeM planning a blast outside J&K or have a non-military target. The recent furore over CAA and NRC has motivated several terror outfits to plan strikes in retaliation.
Sources in security establishment say that Rauf Ashgar has been handling Mujahideens after his brother Maulana Massoud Azhar was diagnosed with a life-threatening ailment.
While he has been undergoing regular treatment under the aegis of ISI, Ashgar has been actively planning anti-India activities in the valley. He is also learnt to be overseeing infiltration bids and coordinating logistics. Ashgar played a major role in the Pulwama and the Pathankot attacks and has been on the top-five list of terror outfit leadership that agencies are working on.
The death of his nephews, Talha Rasheed and Usman Haider, in encounters with security forces in Kashmir allegedly had Ashgar seething in revenge and had prompted him to plan the Pulwama attack.
Source: India Times
