New Delhi: Investigators unravelling the new Indian Mujahideen (IM) terror network stretching across Chennai, north Bihar and Delhi are finding a new characteristic to the terror module, unlike terror groups busted in the past.
A senior official called it the “kinship network”, different from the ideological networks of the past. He explained that the present network was built around kinship of Muslims from northern Bihar, rather than a binding ideology. “They may have had links to some madrasas or so, but unlike in the past, the common link to the group is the fact that they are mostly from northern Bihar,” he said.
In the kinship terror network, they are not drawn together by the fact that they were once members of SIMI or other extremist organisations. In the past, it was former members of Simi who ganged up to carry out attacks, under the banner of Indian Mujahideen or otherwise.
The kinship network operates as a closed group, making it extremely difficult to detect them, and they also command resources of their people who have migrated to other parts of the country. “They can travel to a city, shack up with one of their own. Their kin in the city may not even realize what purpose they are there for,” the official said, explaining how they are able to command huge resources across various locations.
When investigators unearthed the latest Indian Mujahideen network, one thing was common to the arrests in Chennai, Delhi and elsewhere – they were all linked to northern Bihar.
Behind this network of mostly north Bihar residents was Yasin Bhatkal aka Yasin Ahmad Siddibappa, who hails from the coastal Karnataka town of Bhatkal but was living in Delhi since the past few years. Given the kind of network that Yasin Bhatkal built around Muslims from northern Bihar, investigators are now looking at the possibility of him having created similar terror modules among other communities.
The suspicion is that among the community in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Kerala, where extremist elements are known to have existed in the past, it is a possibility that Bhatkal may have created new terror modules. A senior official said investigators on the trail of a couple of more north Bihar residents were looking at the possibility.
Investigators do not have any reason to believe that Bhatkal may have left India. They have been hunting for him for the past few years, though they had identified him under a different name. All the while, he stayed in Delhi, set up a workshop to make ammunition, married a local girl and strengthened the terror module. He was also instrumental in carrying out at least three terror attacks in the same period.
Meanwhile, sources said Mohammad Adil, the Pakistani national who was among the six arrested, has told interrogators about the presence of Riaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, the two brothers who originally started Indian Mujahideen, in Karachi.
A senior official called it the “kinship network”, different from the ideological networks of the past. He explained that the present network was built around kinship of Muslims from northern Bihar, rather than a binding ideology. “They may have had links to some madrasas or so, but unlike in the past, the common link to the group is the fact that they are mostly from northern Bihar,” he said.
In the kinship terror network, they are not drawn together by the fact that they were once members of SIMI or other extremist organisations. In the past, it was former members of Simi who ganged up to carry out attacks, under the banner of Indian Mujahideen or otherwise.
The kinship network operates as a closed group, making it extremely difficult to detect them, and they also command resources of their people who have migrated to other parts of the country. “They can travel to a city, shack up with one of their own. Their kin in the city may not even realize what purpose they are there for,” the official said, explaining how they are able to command huge resources across various locations.
When investigators unearthed the latest Indian Mujahideen network, one thing was common to the arrests in Chennai, Delhi and elsewhere – they were all linked to northern Bihar.
Behind this network of mostly north Bihar residents was Yasin Bhatkal aka Yasin Ahmad Siddibappa, who hails from the coastal Karnataka town of Bhatkal but was living in Delhi since the past few years. Given the kind of network that Yasin Bhatkal built around Muslims from northern Bihar, investigators are now looking at the possibility of him having created similar terror modules among other communities.
The suspicion is that among the community in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Kerala, where extremist elements are known to have existed in the past, it is a possibility that Bhatkal may have created new terror modules. A senior official said investigators on the trail of a couple of more north Bihar residents were looking at the possibility.
Investigators do not have any reason to believe that Bhatkal may have left India. They have been hunting for him for the past few years, though they had identified him under a different name. All the while, he stayed in Delhi, set up a workshop to make ammunition, married a local girl and strengthened the terror module. He was also instrumental in carrying out at least three terror attacks in the same period.
Meanwhile, sources said Mohammad Adil, the Pakistani national who was among the six arrested, has told interrogators about the presence of Riaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, the two brothers who originally started Indian Mujahideen, in Karachi.
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