The Islamic State, the Indian Sub-Continent & its Neighbourhood

[ramana]

The Police need to communicate clearly. ISIS is a complex terrorist organization. Its based on cells which are autonomous or internet directed. As such they need to clearly state the facts even if they have to be repeated.

For example what are the names of the other two along with Mohsin? Next what is the name of the fourth person how is in Kabul?
Again note the pattern of four in a cell or group.

Aslo what happened to the hawala dealer who gave Moshsin, the money? If its a hawala dealer he could be transferring money from outside contacts. Who are they?

[SSridhar]

NIA arrests 20th suspect linked to Islamic State related module - vijiata Singh, The Hindu

As part of its ongoing investigations into a suspected terror module linked to the Islamic State (IS), the National Investigation Agency arrested the 20th suspect from Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.

The accused identified as Abdus Sami Qasmi was allegedly delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches in the support of 'Caliphate,' an NIA spokesperson said.

A resident of Seelampur in North East Delhi, a predominantly Muslim populated area, Sami was running a website where he allegedly uploaded his inflammatory speeches.

A Non Bailable Warrant (NBW) was issued against him by the Special NIA court, Delhi. “He has been arrested in the case of ongoing investigation into the conspiracy to form a terror organisation and to launch terror attacks in the country. He has been brought to Delhi and is being produced before the NIA special Court today,” an NIA official said.

The official added that Sami was found to be “instigating and motivating youth for anti national activities and has visited various parts of the country in order to deliver his Takreer and Bayaan”.

He runs a trust and madrassas and some of his financial transactions in this connection have been found to be of suspicious nature and are under investigation, the NIA official said.

So far, 20 persons have been arrested by NIA in the terror related cases as the agency has registered two separate FIRs.

[SSridhar]

Anti-IS Struggle - Edit, DT

Pakistan, particularly in the avatar of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali, is as usual ‘dealing’ with the problem through denial. This ostrich-like head-in-the-sand posture is neither convincing nor confidence inspiring. The modus operandi of IS is different from al Qaeda (from whose womb it evolved in Iraq initially) in that it has proved adept at using existing terrorist groups to widen its reach, control and capability of wreaking mischief. Is there not readymade fertile soil for just such a strategy in Pakistan (and Afghanistan)? How then can the Pakistani authorities be so derelict in their duty and oblivious to the looming threat? Just as the world tended to wake up late to the IS threat, and that too only when it exploded onto the scene, capturing large swathes of territory in Iraq (where the US-trained army disintegrated) and Syria (taking advantage of and manoeuvring in the fractured political and battle landscape), Pakistan may one day wake up to rue the day it failed to respond in timely fashion to pre-empt the reported efforts of IS to win over the Pakistani terrorist groups and carve out a niche for itself here. The world needs to find the will and unity to defeat IS on a ‘global’ scale while Pakistan needs the same to pre-empt the threatened growth of IS on our soil. *

[Prem]

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western ... 9f7bd9555c
Perth youth kicked out of India over Islamic State jihadi literature on laptop

A PERTH youth has been rejected from entering India and deported back to Australia because of “strong indications” he was an Islamic State supporter.Indian officials deemed him “too dangerous” after they found jihadi literature and propaganda on his laptop, The Indian Express reported.Images of the young man posing bare-chested with an assault rifle and sitting with a pistol on his lap were also allegedly found.He was detained for questioning on landing at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport from Perth on Thursday after a “tip-off”.A source told the newspaper the man told security officials he was in India for a meeting in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, but was “evasive in his replies”.“He had managed to secure a valid visa,” the newspaper said.
“However, after scouring through the contents of his laptop, a call was taken that it was too dangerous to allow him to enter India, and he was sent back to Perth.”It is the first time India has deported someone on these grounds, as it joins the worldwide fight against terrorism.Counter terrorism expert Dr Anne Aly said it was naive for anyone to think the reach of Islamic State would not touch Perth.“There is no profile of who it can and can’t happen to,” Dr Aly said.“The internet has no borders, whether you are in Perth or the Arab world. So as long as this propaganda is on the internet it will happen.”Former Perth doctor Tareq Kamleh last year appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video saying he was offering his medical services as part of his “jihad for Islam”.And Murdoch University student Muhammed Sheglabo posted on social media that he had left Perth to join the terrorist group.

[SSridhar]

Posting here because it involves Indians.

Indians taken hostage by ISIS in Mosul are alive: Sushma Swaraj - PTI

The 39 Indians taken hostage by ISIS more than one-and-a-half-years ago from Mosul in Iraq are alive, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told their families here on Sunday, based on her recent meetings with Arab and Palestinian leaders who indicated to this effect.

Swaraj, who had sought a meeting with the families, also assured them that the government was "fully and continuously engaged" and "every possible effort" was being made to ensure their release.

This was her ninth meeting with the kin since the kidnapping of these Indians in June 2014.

According to official sources, the minister told them that during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader informed her that the "Indians are alive and made to work" in war-torn Iraq as per his government's intelligence information. Swaraj had travelled to Palestine and Israel on January 17 and 18.

The minister also referred to her visit to Bahrain on January 23 for the first India-Arab League Cooperation Forum and said during the meeting, a declaration was adopted which said, "The two sides expressed concern at the kidnapping of 39 Indian workers in Mosul in Iraq in June 2014 and 3 Indian workers in Sirte in Libya in June 2015.

"The Arab side expressed full solidarity with India in all efforts for their early release from captivity."

The Indians were kidnapped by Islamic militant group ISIS from a construction site in Mosul.

They are being used as slaves (abeed).

[SSridhar]

India not immune to ISIS threat, says UAE - PTI

ABU DHABI: Warning that India is not immune to the threat from Islamic State (ISIS), the UAE, which has deported about a dozen Indians with suspected links to the terror group, said on Monday that its anti-terror cooperation with India is going to get "more institutionalized".

"There are no grey areas. We need to tackle this (ISIS) threat and nobody is immune. If you think you are immune (and) you are going to be negligent, you are going to be hit. Everybody ... whether India or the UAE," Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs said here.

Ahead of the UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayad Al Nahayan's three-day state visit to India starting Wednesday, Gargash told NDTV in an interview that strengthening bilateral cooperation against terrorism would be an important component of the royal visit.

Bilateral cooperation on terror was "working very well" and in the coming 12 months "it will be more institutionalized and work even better," he said in the backdrop of the Gulf nation having deported to India a dozen Indians with suspected links to ISIS in recent months.

Such cooperation was an important part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's discussions with the UAE leadership during his visit here in August, Gargash said.

Underlining the threat posed by ISIS, the minister said, "no country was immune, no city is immune..... We need greater cooperation and zero tolerance for any sort of extremism, terrorism in order to confront this threat."

Asserting that there should be no distinction between one terror group and another, the minister said that there are no good terrorists and bad terrorists. The battle against terrorism was a "generational fight and the UAE is a worthy partner in this fight."

Answering a question about the joint statement issued after Modi's visit here in which India and the UAE condemned efforts by some states to use religion to support and justify terrorism, which was seen as a veiled reference to Pakistan, Gargash his country doesn't see "grey areas" in relation to terrorism.

"In our rejection of terrorism, whether that is done by a non-government group or whether it is sponsored by governments, we put all that in the same pile. Terrorism is terrorism," he said.

He emphasized that UAE was not playing Pakistan against India or the vice versa. India was a big power both globally and regionally and relationship with it was not related to third parties.

[Mihaylo]

India not immune to ISIS threat, says UAE - PTI

ABU DHABI: Warning that India is not immune to the threat from Islamic State (ISIS), the UAE, which has deported about a dozen Indians with suspected links to the terror group, said on Monday that its anti-terror cooperation with India is going to get "more institutionalized".

"There are no grey areas. We need to tackle this (ISIS) threat and nobody is immune. If you think you are immune (and) you are going to be negligent, you are going to be hit. Everybody ... whether India or the UAE," Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs said here.

Ahead of the UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayad Al Nahayan's three-day state visit to India starting Wednesday, Gargash told NDTV in an interview that strengthening bilateral cooperation against terrorism would be an important component of the royal visit.

Bilateral cooperation on terror was "working very well" and in the coming 12 months "it will be more institutionalized and work even better," he said in the backdrop of the Gulf nation having deported to India a dozen Indians with suspected links to ISIS in recent months.

Such cooperation was an important part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's discussions with the UAE leadership during his visit here in August, Gargash said.

Underlining the threat posed by ISIS, the minister said, "no country was immune, no city is immune..... We need greater cooperation and zero tolerance for any sort of extremism, terrorism in order to confront this threat."

Asserting that there should be no distinction between one terror group and another, the minister said that there are no good terrorists and bad terrorists. The battle against terrorism was a "generational fight and the UAE is a worthy partner in this fight."

Answering a question about the joint statement issued after Modi's visit here in which India and the UAE condemned efforts by some states to use religion to support and justify terrorism, which was seen as a veiled reference to Pakistan, Gargash his country doesn't see "grey areas" in relation to terrorism.

"In our rejection of terrorism, whether that is done by a non-government group or whether it is sponsored by governments, we put all that in the same pile. Terrorism is terrorism," he said.

He emphasized that UAE was not playing Pakistan against India or the vice versa. India was a big power both globally and regionally and relationship with it was not related to third parties.

Hmm...smells like a threat or alerting us to an inevitable terrorist act.

-M

[member_29325]

Sounds more like a veiled threat -- it is not like India is not aware of the IS threat.

[Mihaylo]

Sounds more like a veiled threat -- it is not like India is not aware of the IS threat.

Yep. That is what I meant. Mighty rich coming from a Wahabi Lackey

-M

[member_29325]

link

Indian mullahs speaking through both sides of their two faces -- tacitly providing excuses for IS by pretending that "hindutva terror" is much of an issue as IS terrorism threat. No wonder the Khangress and digvijaya singh sang this same tune when they were around. They are now running around with conspiracy theories about Hemant Karkare's death during 26/11 -- how these jihadi prototype "leaders of the Indian community" taking any responsiblity if they pretend to be against IS and simultaneously claim they are only as much of a threat as non-existent "hindu terrorism"? Utter pakiness in display -- bringing in the uniform civil code and removing the restrictions on speech that offends religious groups is the only legal way to cut the legs under such pro-IS organizations.

Stop random arrests of Muslim men on IS pretext: Muslim organisations
The six groups are Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Ahle Hadees, All-India Majlis-e-Mushawarat, Milli Council, and the Welfare Party.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said at a counter-terror conference held in March last year that there was no IS in India. “What explains the vacillations since,” he asked. “Has one year suddenly made most educated young (Muslims) suspects?” The group claimed that in 2014 only 18 of 141 people apprehended were chargesheeted, and the remaining 123 were found innocent.

So one statement in 2014 by home minister that "IS is not in India" takes precedence over the fact that there were legitimate arrests of suspected IS terrorists? all of this drama by these very same muslims groups about working with parents of IS youth to stop spread of IS in India was a complete sham?

Isn't the bigger point here that the 123 youths were released after due process? Do these mullahs really not understand due process or is all this charade to make excuses undercover support for IS?

Most of these people, too, would probably be released by higher courts, they said, alleging that young men from the community are picked up randomly and charged with being either terrorists or sympathisers.

Being released by higher courts is not a proof of innocence if there is evidence pointing to individuals being in contact with IS cadre. Besides it is preventative -- these 18 IS cadre that were arrested would have created more IS cadre down the line...is this the goal of these muslim groups too, if they want such terrorist individuals to remain outside the net?

They made seven demands of the NDA government, including “full expose of the Hindutva terror network uncovered by slain (Mumbai Police) ATS chief Hemant Karkare, and cases brought to light by admissions of Swami Aseemanand”. Thy also demanded formation of a panel to work as “watchdog” and look into cases of arrests made on “mere suspicion”.

Making "demands" based on false equivalence between IS terror and "hindutva terror" is a sign that none of these groups are serious at all about cooperating on IS -- now if they don't cooperate, their excuse will be "first stop hindu terror and then we will assist you with IS". Simply unacceptable IS-supporting behavior and they are not doing any favours to law-abiding Indian muslims.

The Indian govt. has to take a harder line on IS and also cut the legs from underneath such islamist organization in a legal manner.

[svinayak]

Remove Sharia out of India
All Kashmir muslim terrorists banned out of India and restore Indian and Hindu culture in Kashmir

Compensation to Hindus killed in India by Muslim terrorists from 1947 -

No foreign culture inside India such as arab culture.

[svinayak]

India not immune to ISIS threat, says UAE - PTI
ABU DHABI: Warning that India is not immune to the threat from Islamic State (ISIS), the UAE, which has deported about a dozen Indians with suspected links to the terror group, said on Monday that its anti-terror cooperation with India is going to get "more institutionalized".

He emphasized that UAE was not playing Pakistan against India or the vice versa. India was a big power both globally and regionally and relationship with it was not related to third parties.[/b]

Hmm...smells like a threat or alerting us to an inevitable terrorist act.

-M

Need to let them know that India has experienced IS right from 1947 and before that with massive loss of lives in India.

[member_29325]

Also, Pakis are trying to cook up a IS bogeyman to provide cover for the Paki Army run terrorist groups, so India cannot overtly play up this threat since the pakis will use it and run with it.

[SSridhar]

Is the war against the IS India’s war? - Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu

At a recent counter-terror conference in Jaipur, which included experts from about 25 countries, the most prominent discussion was on a unified global response to the threat from the Islamic State (IS). “The problem the world faces is that while the bad guys think global, the good guys still think national, sometimes still departmental,” said Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar. “Encouraging a ‘whole of the world’ approach in countering terrorism is one of the major goals of Indian diplomacy.”

The tenor of the discourse was significant. When one participant asked if the IS is as much a threat to India as it is to some other countries, he was fiercely challenged. When he asked whether India should join the coalition of troops on the ground against the IS with or without a United Nations mandate, he was openly called an “apologist for the IS”.

Not a uniform threat

A less heated consideration of the issue must prevail over what exactly India’s role in the “global war on IS” should be, if sending troops is indeed a possibility. To begin with, the theory of a global war suggests that the threat to all countries is uniform in nature. The IS has claimed that its Caliphate represents Muslim populations everywhere, and its targeting of people from the U.S., France, Jordan, China and Japan indicates that it does not see a difference. Yet, on the ground, the ‘target populations’ are very different, with varied motivations.

While the threat in the U.S. and Europe comes from immigrants who have settled in these places in recent decades, in South and Central Asia, the Muslim populations are indigenous. In West Asia, many of the populations from which fighters are joining the IS were already fighting against their governments. And in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, those who migrated to IS territory received no opposition from their governments, which were already at odds with the Iraqi and Syrian regimes. Therefore, while the motivation for all of them may have been the desire for an Islamist jihad, the factors influencing them are entirely different.

In particular, there is a difference between India and other countries. According to government figures, 27 Indians are confirmed to have travelled to IS-held territories, 200 are under watch, and about 18 have been charged with attempting to join the IS in India (not counting 30 recent detentions on which details are awaited). The figures for Indians joining the IS are low enough to be statistically negligible (less than 0.00004 per cent) compared to the rest of the world. In the 44 countries tracked by the U.K.-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and the Central Intelligence Agency, India finds no mention. A Brookings Institution study of online supporters of the IS on Twitter also found the numbers of pro-IS tweets out of India too negligible to include in its survey. Last year, Twitter shut down 1,25,000 accounts for “threatening or promoting terrorism”, mostly IS-linked accounts reported by governments worldwide. According to Twitter Transparency reports, the Indian police and government agencies have asked to shut down only about 50 accounts from 2014 onwards. These include cases of terrorism, but also of harassment, stalking, threats and abuse.

These statistics should certainly not give the impression that India has nothing to fear. But they must be seen in relation to the threat perception at present, so as to guard against an overreaction. If India were to consider sending troops under the U.N. flag to IS territories, as Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said it could, what would be the human costs of such a venture over the benefits? Tied into that calculation is whether India is prepared to face the backlash of terror attacks, either in the country or on Indians based in West Asia. These could be particularly heightened given the broad-based support the IS has found with terror groups in Pakistan.

What global war on terror means for India

Finally, it is necessary to understand just what the idea of the “global war on terror” means for India. If India were to believe that the war against the IS is part of the global fight against terror, is the reverse true? Are countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — which have included Pakistan in their coalition against the IS but also profess cooperation with India on terror — at all likely to pay more than lip service and offer more than a few dozen deportations to India? Why is it that the U.S. has carried out hundreds of drone attacks on areas in Pakistan from where strikes are launched on International Security Assistance Force soldiers in Afghanistan, but has never suggested striking those who threaten India? Instead, it is more likely that these countries will ask India to exercise restraint after attacks.

A case in point is David Headley. While his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks was amply clear to U.S. investigating agencies, it took years for them to allow Indian investigators to interrogate him, during which time Headley struck a plea bargain so he wouldn’t face the death penalty or be extradited. Even though Headley’s cooperation in allied investigations was a part of that plea bargain, U.S. authorities delayed granting India his deposition, and not before the Mumbai court hearing him was forced into pardoning him. Perhaps this is really the key to the conundrum described by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval at the conference when he spoke of the global response to terrorism since the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. Why is it, he asked, that 15 years after countries have signed on to the global war on terror, terror casualties are 320 per cent higher than in 2001, terror groups have spread to areas they have never been in before, and states have spent enormous figures on fighting terror?

The truth is, the global war on terror will be India’s too only when the terrorists who wage war on India are also seen as threats to the countries which seek India’s support.

[SSridhar]

IS emerging as a threat, warns Pakistan's IB chief - DAWN

The director general of the Intel­ligence Bureau, Aftab Sultan, informed the Senate Standing Committee on Interior on Wednesday that the militant Islamic State group was emerging as a threat in the country because several militant groups had soft corner for it. He named Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan as examples.

Though IS and Afghan Taliban were rivals, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) coordinated with it, he added.

The interior ministry has been denying the presence of IS in Pakistan, saying that it was an Arab organisation. But Mr Sultan said the IB had busted a big IS network after several members reached Punjab following Karachi’s Safoora Goth carnage in May.

He held the banned TTP responsible for major terror incidents in the country and said the group had been realigning with Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Sipah-i-Sahaba.

He specifically mentioned killings of SP Chaudhry Aslam in Karachi and ANP leader Bashir Bilour in Peshawar.

He said terrorists were reorganising and stressed the need for a border control mechanism, particularly with Afghanistan, enhanced regional cooperation, implementation of the National Action Plan and de-radicalisation policy with a focus on counter-narrative.

The IB chief called for a comprehensive policy for “rehabilitation of jihadi elements” {that means refocussing them on India} and effective implementation of policy for monitoring social media and cyberspace.

The reconciliation process in Balochistan should be placed on fast track and Fata reforms be implemented, he added.

Aftab Sultan also confirmed the presence of Al Qaeda in the sub-continent and said evidence of their involvement in killings of some police officers had been found.

He said local TTP leader Abid Muchar and Kazan Gul, who were wanted in 100 terror cases, had been neutralised in an IB-led operation.

He said the TTP Fazlullah group was still the strongest militant group and operating in coordination with other outfits.

The law and order situation had considerably improved in the country after the launch of Zarb-i-Azb Operation and terrorists were on the run, he claimed.

Mr Sultan said civilian security and intelligence agencies were augmenting the military operation in cities to avert retaliation by terrorists.

He warned that the country could see more terror attacks because it was not possible to completely eliminate terrorists in the next decade.

He said under a new mechanism the IB was closely working with provincial police and counter terrorism departments.

In reply to a question, he said foreign hands had not been involved in most of terrorist attacks as local terrorists, mostly from tribal areas, were behind them.

He praised Punjab for taking lead in action against sectarian and proscribed organisations and in blocking their finances and ensuring conviction in more than two dozen cases .

[SSridhar]

India, UAE ink 7 pacts - ToI

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had on Wednesday called on Al Nahyan. The two discussed the challenge posed by the IS and emphasised the need to work closely to defeat terrorism.

The issue of a Saudi Arabia-led alliance against IS also came up for discussion, sources said. In this regard, Swaraj also complimented UAE for supporting the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) to effectively deal with the menace globally. India has been pressing for adoption of the CCIT by the UN. The two also deliberated on the need to contain radicalism, the sources said.

[ramana]

Need to propagate up either new acronym, to describe this IS in India. Using the name ISIS causes confusion and worse cognitive dissonance in recognizing the threat. Eg. Suhasini Hauser article.

The key is
- former IM operatives are turning to Arabian ISIS. Recall Abu Jundal was arrested from KSA.


-Next is the Paki created ISIS (PISIS) for plausible deniability which SSridhar described.


SS also please blog so can share it.

[SSridhar]

Nisar in Denial - Edit in DT

[Pakistan's] Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has once again denied the presence of Islamic State (IS) in Pakistan. He says some terror outfits in Pakistan are using the name of IS to pursue their agendas. IS, the minister asserts, is a Middle Eastern organisation without the same level of presence here. It seems the minister is once again indulging in his favourite pastime: tilting at windmills. No one of sound mind has suggested IS is present in Pakistan in the same shape and form as in the Middle East. General opinion runs precisely along the lines that local terrorist groups have either pledged (at least four) or are in the process of pledging allegiance to IS. The minister flies in the face of the facts revealed by two sources. First and foremost, Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director General (DG) Aftab Sultan has confirmed to a parliamentary panel that IS poses a serious growing threat in Pakistan. Following this, the other day DG ISPR Lt-General Asim Bajwa revealed that a nexus amongst IS, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) has been broken up in Karachi and Hyderabad. After these facts were revealed, and given that Chaudhry Nisar admits local terrorist groups are ‘using’ IS’s name or pledging allegiance to it, where does the minister conclude that there is no presence of IS here? We have repeatedly pointed out in this space that it is not necessary for IS to physically travel here from its bases in Syria and Iraq. On the contrary, some Pakistanis, including women and children, have been reported to have travelled from here to Syria to fight on IS’s side. The only thing that needs to travel the other way is IS’s message and appeal, not to mention the temptation for local groups to dip into IS’s considerable coffers. While admitting this does not take a genius, it is inexplicable why, every time he opens his mouth, Chaudhry Nisar seems to see his ‘enemies’ everywhere. This includes commentators warning against the growth of an IS presence in Pakistan through local terror groups, as well as the political opposition. So incensed is Chaudhry Nisar at being contradicted on an IS presence here or the manifest gaps and failures in the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) that he has lashed out rudely at the opposition, particularly the PPP, whom he accuses of having slept through its tenure as far as terrorism is concerned. In language unbecoming of a holder of high office and a parliamentarian, the minister says such people criticise him when he “steps on their tail”. Can Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif not rein in his Don Quixote, or at the very least teach him some manners?

Now from the ridiculous to the sublime (serious examination of the IS phenomenon). Since January 2015, reports have said at least four local terrorist groups have pledged allegiance to IS. The DG ISPR revealed the nexus amongst IS, TTP and LeJ. This trend is not confined to Pakistan. Some 43 terrorist groups in many countries across the Middle East and Africa have similarly pledged allegiance to IS. IS has laid claim to our region by dubbing it “Khurasan” in a reference to its ancient description, and clearly has aims to conquer it in the name of its so-called caliphate. Two additional facts should be kept in view. While we are trying to stop the TTP carrying out cross-border attacks from Afghan soil, IS has infiltrated eastern Afghanistan, is poised close to our border, and could easily aid and abet TTP in its terror operations inside Pakistan. Second, Chaudhry Nisar sees the madrassas as a bulwark against terrorism. Received wisdom so far held that it is these madrassas, or at least many of them, that are the terrorist-producing factories. Now they have, in the interior minister’s view, become their dialectical opposite, a ‘bulwark’. The government’s efforts to monitor and regulate the madrassas is at best described as an incomplete, difficult if not impossible task given the long leeway they have enjoyed over the decades, but to describe these holdouts for being allowed to preach the jihadi message to young minds as a ‘bulwark’ against terrorism is to beggar the imagination. Chaudhry Nisar’s credentials as the security czar are suspect, given that in the past he has exposed his soft corner for extremists. Peddling furiously and wildly in the water to perhaps overcome this perception, the interior minister seems to have jumped into the deep end.*

I suspect that to counter the ISI-sponsored AQIS, Nawaz Sharif is supporting the IS and hence the denial.

[SSridhar]

Indonesia nabs ISIS-linked groups planning terror attacks: Police chief - AFP, Straits Times

Indonesian police have arrested dozens of people from radical Islamic groups who were plotting attacks against the airport and other targets, the national police chief said on Monday (Feb 15).

The 33 people were arrested by the police anti-terror unit following last month's attacks in Jakarta that killed four civilians and four assailants, Mr Badrodin Haiti said.

The gun and suicide bomb attacks claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and centred around a Starbucks outlet were the country's worst terror incident in seven years, ending a long lull in major terror.

Police have launched a crackdown across the country, saying they suspect a broader extremist network helped carry out the assault.

Seventeen of those arrested were directly linked to the Jakarta attacks, while 16 others were members of three other radical groups, Haiti said.

A group led by an extremist called Hendro Fernando had received 1.3 billion rupiah (S$136,000) from Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, he said, adding that it planned to launch attacks against Jakarta's main airport and the national police headquarters.

Mr Haiti said another group led by a person identified only as "Helmi" planned to use a car bomb to attack the Jakarta police complex in the city's main business district.

A third group, according to the police chief, planned stabbing attacks on traffic police.

"Terrorism attacks will still happen in the future because there are other groups who are linked to Bahrun Naim in Syria," he said.

Bahrun Naim is one of three high-profile Indonesians fighting for ISIS. Police say he played a central role in motivating groups in Indonesia to launch attacks in the country.

"(Naim) explained and gave motivation about launching a holy war and explained how to make bombs and said that he would send money to anyone who is ready to engage in terrorist acts," Mr Haiti said.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, suffered several major bomb attacks by Islamic radicals between 2000 and 2009, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

A subsequent crackdown weakened the most dangerous extremist networks.

Police now say the biggest threat comes from two main sources - Indonesians in Syria encouraging local groups to launch attacks, and Indonesians who return home from fighting in the Middle East. {India must learn from the Indonesian experience}

There are currently 392 Indonesians fighting for ISIS in Syria and over 50 more are thought to be preparing to leave for the country, police said.

[SSridhar]

Iraqi top cleric’s fatwa turning tide against IS - Sameer Arshad, ToI
Excerpts

Karbala: Eighteen-day confinement to a hospital bed with half his body below waist paralyzed has not dampened Iraqi antiDaesh (IS) al-Hashd al-Shaabi force volunteer Adil Fozi's spirits. He flashed a victory sign as a group of Indian journalists interviewed him at the hospital overlooking one of Islam's holiest shrines - the mausoleum of Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Husain, in Karbala. The 35-year-old balding man vowed to return to the battlefield.

Fozi's spirit is symptomatic of the resolve sweeping Iraq to rid the country of IS. It is reflected in great show of volunteerism to take on Daesh since Shia leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's fatwa calling Iraqis to resist the group in June 2014.

Hashd volunteers have since played a key role in reclaiming territories like Ramadi even as concerns over arming civilians remain. They are now assisting the Iraqi army in its efforts to liberate Mosul, the most important city under IS occupation. A majority of Muslim scholars, including puritanical Saudi Arabian grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al ash-Sheikh, have denounced IS as modern-age Kharijites for adopting brutal ways. Shia clergy's likening of IS to the killers of Ali's son, Husain, and 72 members of the prophet's family in the epic battle of Karbala in 680 AD to save the true Islam has had great resonance in southern Iraq. It has drawn over one lakh volunteers to Hashd's ranks.

Fozi echoed the growing Iraqi irritation to western projection of Hashd as a Shia undisciplined militia. "We fight under the Iraqi Army and support them,'' he said. Jalandhar-born Sheikh Bashir Husain al-Najafi, a member of Sistani's council, insisted the resistance against IS was not that of Shias but of all Iraqis. He underlined Khaled al-Obeidi, a Sunni, was leading the war on IS as defence minister. "This disproves all western propaganda of ShiaSunni conflict in Iraq."

[ramana]

Interesting that KSA Grand Mufti is calling ISIS as Kharjites when he should be calling the Wahhabis the same!!!!
But then he will be no longer grand mufti but beheaded.

[member_29325]

Trying to shift blame from the Wahabbis to the Iranians -- the Kharjites seem to be mounting a righteous challenge to the wahabbis in the West Asian blood bath.

[SSridhar]

X-post from STFU-TSP thread

Three police killed in Pakistan attack, ISIS suspected - Reuters, DNA

Three police officers were killed by unknown assailants in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad on Friday, police said on Saturday, in an incident that is being investigated as a possible attack by Islamic State.

The three attackers, who escaped the scene, dropped copies of a pamphlet addressed to security officials which said a regional chapter of the Middle East-based militant group claimed responsibility for "recent attacks on security forces," a senior police official said.

[SSridhar]

IS claims murder of top Hindu priest in Bangladesh - PTI

The Islamic State on Monday claimed the brutal killing of a head priest in Bangladesh at a Hindu temple in an area bordering India, the first attack by the dreaded terror group targeting the community amid a series of similar assaults on religious minorities.

U.S.-based private SITE Intelligence Group published the ISIS statement in Arabic after the execution—style killing of 50-year-old Jagneshwar Roy at Sonapota village on Sunday in a pre-dawn attack in northern Panchagarh district’s Debiganj Upazila, some 494 km from here, that also injured two Hindu devotees.

“In a security operation, soldiers of the Caliphate liquidated the priest — the founder and head of the Deviganj temple that belongs to the Hindus,” read the English translation of the IS statement.

It added: “One of his companions was hurt after being targeted with light weapons in the area of Panchagarh in Northern Bangladesh, and the Mujahideen returned to their positions unharmed.”

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online jihadi activity, said the ISIS claimed responsibility for killing Roy in a communique posted by the IS—linked Amaq News Agency on Twitter. The claim could not be independently verified.

Motorbike-borne assailants, said to be over three in number, pelted stones at the house of Roy in the premises of the Santagourhiyo Temple which prompted him to come out following which the killers pounced on him and slit his throat, according to a devotee in the neighbourhood.

Roy, who founded the temple in 1998 and served as its principal and chief priest since then, was preparing for the morning prayers, when stones were hurled at the temple. A blood-stained cleaver was recovered from the spot, authorities said, adding that the motive for the killing was not clear.

A probe was launched in to the attack to nab the assassins who fled the scene on a motorbike, firing gunshots and hurling crude bombs to avoid being chased, injuring two including a neighbour who had rushed to the spot to save Roy.

His murder is the first attack on a Hindu priest and the fifth assault on minority religious communities including Shia Muslims and liberal Sufi preachers in the past six months by suspected Islamists.

Hindus make the Sunni-majority country’s largest minority with nearly 10 per cent of the total population of 160 million.

However, a senior police officer overseeing the investigation questioned the authenticity of the ISIS claim and said the initial investigation found that the banned Jamaatul Mujahideeen Bangladesh (JMB) and fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami could be linked to the murder.

[SSridhar]

Maharashtra ATS team to question Malwani youth

Nearly two weeks after the missing Malwani youth, Mohsin Sheikh, was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell in an alleged terror plot, a team of officers from the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) will be leaving for Delhi this week to question him.

Mohsin, along with his friends Ayaz Sultan, Wajid Sheikh and Noor Mohammed, had gone missing last year. Ayaz was later confirmed to have joined the Islamic State in Kabul, while Wajid was traced to Pune, and Noor came back home on his own. Subsequently, intelligence and anti-terror agencies across the country arrested several suspected IS members from various locations in India, and Mohsin, who was the only one unaccounted for, was arrested during this sweep on February 5 this year by the Delhi Police.

“A team will be leaving for Delhi within two days to question Mohsin. He will be quizzed about his movements from the time that he went missing till the time of his arrest, as well as his interactions with the other three youths, with the other IS members arrested in the country and any contact he might have had with handlers operating from Syria,” said an officer.

Officials said that the case with the Maharashtra ATS and the one with the Delhi Police are two separate ones. While the Maharashtra ATS is investigating Sultan’s journey to Kabul and his joining the IS there, the Delhi Police have charged him with planning terror strikes inside the country. Sultan has already been booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and UP native Rizwan Nawazuddin has also been arrested in the case.

[SSridhar]

Islamic State bomb supply chain includes 7 Indian firms: Report - Reuters

Companies from 20 countries are involved in the supply chain of components that end up in Islamic State explosives, a study found on Thursday, suggesting governments and firms need to do more to track the flow of cables, chemicals and other equipment.

The European Union-mandated study showed that 51 companies from countries including Turkey, Brazil, and the United States produced, sold or received the more than 700 components used by Islamic State to build improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

IEDs are now being produced on a "quasi-industrial scale" by the militant group, which uses both industrial components that are regulated and widely available equipment such as fertiliser chemicals and mobile phones, according to Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which undertook the 20-month study.

Islamic State controls large swathes of Iraq and Syria. NATO member Turkey shares borders with both countries and has stepped up security to prevent the flow of weapons and insurgents to the hardline Sunni group.

A total of 13 Turkish firms were found to be involved in the supply chain, the most in any one country. That was followed by India with seven.

"These findings support growing international awareness that IS forces in Iraq and Syria are very much self-sustaining — acquiring weapons and strategic goods, such as IED components, locally and with ease," said James Bevan, CAR's executive director.

The sale of these cheap and readily available parts, some of which are not subject to government export licences, is far less scrutinised and regulated than the transfer of weapons.

The study found that Islamic State is able to acquire some components in as a little as a month after their lawful supply to firms in the region, suggestion a lack of oversight in the supply chain.

"Companies having effective accounting systems to establish where the goods went after them would act as a deterrent," Bevan said.

'Refused to cooperate'

Bevan said the Turkish government refused to cooperate with CAR's investigation so the group was not able to determine the efficacy of Ankara's regulations regarding the tracking of components.

Turkish government officials did not reply to requests for comment.

CAR gained access to the components through partners including the Washington-backed Kurdish YPG in Syria, the Iraqi Federal Police, the Kurdistan Region Security Council and forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

[deejay]

^^^ SS ji,

a) It is surprising that Indian agencies are not tracking this
b) Will we able to identify the 7 Indian agencies
c) and will be able to stop this supply of parts.

[SSridhar]

deejay ji, the EU report team claims that it did not receive cooperation only from Turkey, which means that it contacted somebody in the government here and received cooperation. So, GoI may be aware of the development.

Secondly, IEDs may contain ball-bearings, for example, which are not banned or dual-use items by any stretch of imagination. We have to really see what these seven companies were exporting and to whom, whether they were re-exported and was the Indian exporter aware of the final destination etc.

[deejay]

deejay ji, the EU report team claims that it did not receive cooperation only from Turkey, which means that it contacted somebody in the government here and received cooperation. So, GoI may be aware of the development.

Secondly, IEDs may contain ball-bearings, for example, which are not banned or dual-use items by any stretch of imagination. We have to really see what these seven companies were exporting and to whom, whether they were re-exported and was the Indian exporter aware of the final destination etc.

Actually, there is another report on this posted on RT. It specifically mentions detonators and detonator chords and fuses from India.

https://www.rt.com/news/333567-bomb-supply-chain-isis/

...
The report has also found that IS forces consistently employed the same electronic components in the construction of one type of remote-controlled IED used in Iraq. "Companies headquartered in Japan, Switzerland, and the United States manufactured the microcontrollers and transistors used in the devices."

Seven Indian companies manufactured most of the detonators, detonating cord, and safety fuses documented by CAR's field investigation teams. "Under Indian law, transfer of this material requires a license. All components documented by CAR were legally exported under government-issued licenses from India to entities in Lebanon and Turkey," the report said.

The report's authors said they attempted to contact the companies linked to the components, adding the firms did not respond or were not able to account for where the goods went after they left their custody. Companies from Brazil, Romania, Japan, Russia, China, Switzerland, Austria and Czech Republic were also involved, the report stated.

...

[SSridhar]

deejay, thanks. That absolves India. Lebanese & Turkish governments must explore the issue further, but we know they are IS supporters. India must temporarily stop export of these items to these two countries.

[ramana]

^^^ SS ji,

a) It is surprising that Indian agencies are not tracking this
b) Will we able to identify the 7 Indian agencies
c) and will be able to stop this supply of parts.

Deejay Dig into this:

http://www.conflictarm.com/publications/

[ramana]

So CAR report is psy-ops to implicate India when the products exported legally are being lost in Turkey and Lebanon.

Looks like blame gamezillas.
----------------------------
Ok. Read the pages 21-30 of the report. Essentially India legitimately exports to Turkey and the material goes to ISIS. Same with Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
Same story from all over the world.

The CAR report is a bunch of shifting the blame game.

[arun]

b) Will we able to identify the 7 Indian agencies.

There should be no problem in identifying the 7 Indian entities whose product have allegedly been diverted by entitities in Lebanon and Turkey for use by Mohammadden Terrorists in Syria and Iraq as the have been named. Those named are Chamundi Explosives, Solar Industries, Economic Explosives, Premier Explosives, Ideal Industrial Explosives and Ideal Detonators Pvt Limited. The last 2 named are reported as denying having supplied to Lebanon or Turkey:

“Our product, namely safety-fuse, is an explosives accessory. Moreover, we have never exported our product directly to Lebanon or Turkey. Most of the time, our products are produced by us and exported by merchant exporting companies like Solar Industries, Economic Explosives, Premier Explosives and Ideal Industrial Explosives — all explosives manufacturers,” Jay Khemka, general manager of Chamundi Explosives, which is reported to have supplied safety fuses, said. All companies named by him figure in the CAR list. Solar Industries, which according to industry players is the biggest exporter among all the named Indian firms, did not respond to an email sent by The Indian Express. When contacted over phone, relevant officials in the company declined to speak on the issue. A spokesperson for Secunderabad-based Ideal Industrial Explosives said, “Neither our company nor our sister company, that is, Ideal Detonators Pvt Limited have exported any products to Lebanon and Turkey. The allegation said to have been published in the (CAR) report is false and baseless.”

See more at:

7 Indian firms among those in Islamic State supply chain: EU study

[SSridhar]

Now, it appears that the CAR report not only unnecessarily blamed legal exports to Turkey & Lebanon but is also a bunch of falsehood.

[SSridhar]

X-post from STFU-TSP thread

ISIS courts white-collar recruits in Pakistan - CBS News

Trying to lure him into the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the would-be recruiter told Pakistani journalist Hasan Abdullah, "Brother, you could be such an asset to the Ummah"- the Islamic community. Abdullah replied that he was enjoying life and had no plans to join the jihadis.

"The enjoyment of this life is short-lived. You should work for the Akhira" - the Afterlife, the recruiter pressed.

ISIS had its eye on Abdullah not because he adheres to any extremist ideology but because, as a journalist, the group believed he could be a boon to its propaganda machine, Abdullah told The Associated Press, recounting his meeting with the recruiter.

His encounter was a sign of how ISIS is looking for sophisticated skills as it builds its foothold in new territory: Pakistan. It is courting university students, doctors, lawyers, journalists and businessmen, and using women's groups for fundraising. It is also wading into fierce competition with the country's numerous other militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban and al Qaeda in the Subcontinent, the new branch created by the veteran terror network.

Here in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, ISIS loyalists have set up their strongest presence, carrying out multiple attacks in the past year and setting up networks..

The port city of some 20 million people on the Arabian Sea has always been a favorite for militants to operate. Wealthy districts running on the city's profitable commerce hold potential for fundraising, while the crowded, cramped poorer districts that have spread around the city provide recruits and places to hide. It also gives recruiters links to other parts of the country, since its population is full of people who have migrated from tribal regions or Afghanistan, looking for work.

The Karachi police's top counterterrorism official, Raja Umer Khitab, warns that ISIS has great potential to grow in Pakistan, not only because of its large reservoir of Sunni extremists but also because of the virulent anti-Shiite sentiment among their ranks. Hatred of Shiites and attacks against them are a keystone of ISIS' ideology and one source of its appeal among some hard-line Sunnis as it set up its self-declared "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria.

ISIS first announced its presence in Pakistan with a bloody attack in May in Karachi in which gunmen boarded a bus carrying Shiites, ordered them to bow their heads, then opened fire, killing 45. The gunmen left behind a tattered piece of paper proclaiming, "Beware ... We have entered the battlefield for retribution and the implementation of Shariah."

Since then, it has killed more than 35 policemen in targeted attacks, attacked two schools and killed rights activist Sabeen Mehmud, who was gunned down in her car with her mother at her side.

ISIS was able to expand into two tribal regions near the border with Afghanistan -- Bajour and Orakzai -- when Taliban leaders there switched allegiance to the newer extremist group. The ISIS branch in neighboring Afghanistan is also aggressively trying to expand its presence, putting it in direct competition with the Taliban.

The number of ISIS loyalists in Pakistan is not known. Government officials only recently admitted that they have a presence {but, Interior Minister Ch. Nisar vehemently contradicts his own bureaucrats and insists that there is no IS presence anywhere in Pakistan} and insist loyalists here have no known operational links to the ISIS leadership in Iraq and Syria. Still, in one of the first warnings by an official about ISIS, intelligence chief Aftab Sultan told a Senate committee earlier this month that hundreds of Pakistanis have gone to fight in Syria, and some are now coming home to Pakistan to recruit.

One way ISIS militants are trying to recruit and build is through women. One academy for women in Karachi's Baloch Colony neighborhood recruited women by playing ISIS videos in the classrooms, Khitab told the AP. The 20 female students then reached out to middle-class and wealthy Karachi women, urging them to donate their religious tithes to the ISIS cause of establishing a caliphate.

Several women were detained, including the wife of a suspected ISIS operative, and were released after questioning, Khitab said.

ISIS recruiters have been stalking university campuses. For example, the suspected mastermind in the bus attack, Saad Aziz, was a graduate of the U.S.-funded Institute of Business Administration in Karachi.

A professor at the Institute, Huma Baqai, said there are radicalized professors teaching in some of the country's top universities. They "are using the classrooms to mold (students') minds," she said. "There is no scrutiny in what happens in the classroom."

An intelligence official told the AP that security officials have interrogated several university professors suspected of supporting ISIS and trying to recruit students. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to talk to the press.

"Finding people who are willing to strap on a suicide vest and blow themselves up is easy. There are hundreds, thousands," said Abdullah, the journalist. But the educated are a bigger prize. He said he knows two other journalists whom ISIS tried to enlist. Abdullah said ISIS probably sought him because he was known from his work writing on extremism in the region and has met many militants personally.

Abdullah said his courtship by ISIS began when he received a message on social media from someone offering information for him for a story. Abdullah didn't hear from him again until weeks later, when a man using the same name approached Abdullah as he had lunch in a park outside his office. The man told Abdullah he closely followed his writings -- then said he was from ISIS. Abdullah quizzed him about militants he knew to verify his claims. Near the end of the conversation, the man noted that many professionals were joining IS.

"This was basically his invitation to me to join their rank," Abdullah said. And the man made his pitch.

Professionals can hold leadership posts or be involved in the group's prolific and powerful propaganda machine, which includes sophisticated videos produced with the latest technology and vigorous use of social media.

Al Qaeda in particular is pursuing a similar caliber of recruits. Khitab said it isn't clear who is winning the competition but there are known instances of al Qaeda militants in Pakistan crossing over to ISIS. Most notably, Khitab said, al Qaeda operatives Abdullah Yusuf and Tayyab Minhas defected to ISIS and are believed to have orchestrated much of the group's violence in Karachi.

The past stereotype of a militant as a tribesman from the mountains in traditional garb with bandoliers of ammo slung over his shoulder has been replaced, said analyst Bruce Hoffman, director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University in Washington.

The new generation comes from "well-educated, cosmopolitan, university educated Pakistanis from middle-class backgrounds who can navigate our globalized space whether virtually or physically with facility and confidence." They can use social media, cross borders and fit "seamlessly into global societies."

"They are the new force multipliers of terrorist groups," he said.

[SSridhar]

IS being wiped out in Afghanistan: President - ToI

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that the Islamic State group has been defeated in the eastern parts of the country, where it had taken over some remote districts.

Speaking at the opening of parliament, Ghani said Afghan forces had dislodged IS loyalists from regions of Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan.

"Afghanistan will be their graveyard," he said in an address broadcast live on national television.

IS has had a presence in Afghanistan for more than a year. Officials have said most militants calling themselves IS are disaffected Taliban fighters.

Afghan forces have claimed victory following a 21-day operation in the Achin and Shinwar districts of Nangarhar, claiming at least 200 militants killed, a provincial official told The Associated Press.

Achin and Shinwar are among a number of districts in the remote mountainous regions along the Pakistan border that were overtaken by IS loyalists in recent months. Operations against the militants included airstrikes to destroy bases and a radio station that was broadcasting IS recruitment messages across Nangarhar province. The radio station was destroyed, along with at least seven militants, on February 1.

"The aim of the operation in Nangarhar was to root out IS from the area," said Afghan Army Lt. Col Sharin Aqa, a spokesman for the 201 Corps.

The operation was aided by local residents who set up checkpoints to help maintain security in their villages. These so-called "local uprisings" had supplemented the Afghan forces, which have been stretched since the drawdown in 2014 of the international combat mission, he said.

The Afghan government is attempting to end the war on its territory with hopes of drawing the Taliban into a dialogue and eventual peace talks. The IS presence has been principally in the east, where they have also fought the Taliban for territory.

[SSridhar]

Indian priest held hostage in Yemen - ToI

An Indian Catholic priest missing since a suspected Islamic State (IS) attack last Friday on a care home in Aden, Yemen, is reportedly being held captive by the assailants. An Indian nun was among 16 people killed in the strike on the Missionaries of Charity run establishment, while another is reportedly missing.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj announced on Saturday that Father Tom Uzhunnalil, a native of Kottayam who lived at the home, had been abducted. He had arrived there from an unsafe place in Yemen for refuge.

"Our camp office in (Yemen's neighbour) Djibouti is trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Father Tom Uzhunnalil so that we can secure his release," Swaraj added in a Twitter post. India shut down its mission in Yemen after evacuating most of its citizens last year.

According to local reports, the 56-year-old priest was handcuffed before being driven away to an undisclosed destination. Kerala CM Oommen Chandy said there were no clues about Uzhunnalil's whereabouts. "She (Swaraj) expressed doubts about the efficacy of the government there, but has assured that the Centre will do its best," he added. Chandy was also quoted as saying that Swaraj had mentioned an Indian nurse being missing since the attack.

Yemeni authorities have blamed IS for the attack. "We are aware that no group has claimed the attack... but information points to... Daesh (an Arabic acronym for IS)," said a security official.

[SSridhar]

Efforts on to bring nun to Djibouti - The Hindu

Kottayam: Efforts are on to bring Sr. Sali, the nun belonging to the Missionaries of Charity who escaped an attack on their convent by rebels in Yemen last Thursday, to Djibouti, according to the Chief Minister’s Office.

The Chief Minister had a talk with the nun who has sought asylum in a hospital in Aden. The nun hails from Thodupuzha in Idukki district.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs has appointed a person to follow up on the attack and the abduction of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salasian priest, from the old age home run by the Missionaries of Charity. The nun, who had kept herself in a dilapidated room of the convent mess during the attack, is the only person who saw the rebels taking away the priest.

Fifteen people, including four nuns, one of them Indian, were killed in the attack on the old age home. The Salasian priests have met the Central government authorities and also government authorities in West Asian countries in connection with the abduction of Fr. Uzhunnalil.

[SSridhar]

15 IS militants killed in Afghan airstrikes

At least 15 members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group were killed in airstrikes in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, the government said on Monday.

The district, bordering Pakistan, has been the scene of heavy clashes between IS militants and security forces, backed by pro-government local militiamen over the past couple of months.

[SSridhar]

ISIS wanted to kidnap Malaysia's PM Najib, says DPM Ahmad Zahid - Straits Times

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was among the top Malaysian officials that militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) targeted for kidnapping last year, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid, who is also the home minister, said he and Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein were also targeted by the group.

"On Jan 30, 2015, a total of 13 people with ties to Daesh (another name for ISIS) had planned to kidnap the leaders, including the prime minister, home minister and defence minister," Dr Ahmad Zahid told Parliament on Tuesday (March 8 ).

He said this in a reply to Datuk Abdul Manan Ismail, a Barisan Nasional MP for Paya Besar, who asked the Home Ministry to state the success of police in preventing terrorist attacks planned by ISIS in the country.

Dr Ahmand Zahid said the police had prevented four incidents of attacks in Malaysia by ISIS.

In September 2014, there was a plan by the group to test improvised explosive devices in Kedah.

Other attempts included attacking places of worship, and entertainment outlets in the country.

"They also wanted to destroy the Free Mason Lodge in Bukit Jalil," Dr Ahmad Zahid said.