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

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ramana
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

Please read new and upcoming expert.from Dainik Jagran Divya Kumar Soti.

http://www.indiandefencereview.com/isi- ... okescreen/
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Unintended Intelligence Consequences: How Yesterday’s Proxy Insurgents turned into Today’s Terrorists
For instance, it is understood that Iran sponsored Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in response Pakistan supported al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to destabilize regional powers politically, economically, and militarily. It is understood that the United States of America sponsored anti-Baathist groups in Iraq and Syria, while Russia, on the other hand, provided support to opposition groups in the wider Middle Eastern region. It is less understood that these situations worsened when state-sponsored insurgencies around the world became monsters against their own masters. To illustrate, during the Cold War, the world’s strongest democracy, the United States of America, armed, trained and funded Osama bin Laden, who led the Afghan-Mujahedin to fight against the Soviet Union. Eventually bin Laden turned against the United States and transformed into the enemy. A similar analogy appears when the world’s largest democracy, India, armed, trained and funded Veluppillai Pirabhakaran, who led the Tamil Tigers to fight against the Sri Lankan government. Eventually, Pirabhakaran made a “U-turn” and ordered his cadres to fight against the Indian troops. India lost over 1000 troops as a result. Moreover, this culminated in the assassination of the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. All in all, insurgencies transform into terrorist organizations as a result of the support and sponsorship of their proxy masters.

Proxies are particularly concerning because interference is often motivated by a nation’s self-interest, absent a regard for future implications. For example, the Tamil Tigers were armed, trained, and funded by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence agency in the early 1980s. India’s proxy-rationale was governed by the hope that, in controlling the insurgency, they would be able to pressure the Sri Lankan government into making concessions for the Tamils and be able to pressure the Tamil militants into accepting the concessions (Richards, 2014:15). Later, the Tamil Tigers were trained by the Israeli secret service Mossad. Mossad’s nexus to the Tamil Tigers was further corroborated by ex-Mossad intelligence officer Victor Ostrovsky and his book, “By Way of Deception.” Richards, in her paper, “An Institutional History of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)”, provides a detailed account for the historical institutionalization of the Tamil Tigers as one of the most sophisticated groups ever assembled.

The present day Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) is an offspring of al Qaeda; and al Qaeda is an offspring of the Afghan Mujahedin and Taliban. As noted earlier, the United States of America, as a proxy sponsor, created the Afghan Mujahedin to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Therefore, what happened on 9/11 and the subsequent wars on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq are interconnected and ultimately a devastating byproduct and extension of the post-Cold War proxy wars.

According to various defectors and seized al Qaeda documents, all terrorist organizations have learned their tactics and techniques from their masters. Waldman (2010), from Harvard University, explains that the relationship between nations’ security agencies and insurgents moves far beyond contact and co-existence. In fact, nations’ support and sponsorship sustains and strongly influences the movement. (Waldman 2010: 1)

The following is a more recent example of how nation-state support for insurgencies produces terrorist organizations. The International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism at George Mason University reported that the “Emni”, the intelligence apparatus of the present day Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL), learned its modus operandi and inner workings from the former Iraqi Security forces of Saddam Hussein. The report explains that “one of the many things that multiple defectors described were the many Iraqi Baathists leading the organization, even in Syria, who had brought with them the tradecraft and totalitarian intelligence operations they had practiced in Saddam Hussein’s government.” (2016: 3) This illustrates the degree of threat and danger involved in training insurgents.
ramana
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

Tuan, The above is propaganda article from Wastern sources.

Biggest blowback was 9/11 that led to Iraq war hysteria leading to financial collapse and reset.
One will never read about that.


ISIL the one in Levant intelligence apparatus is based on Prophet's Muqabarat and not any Iraq BS.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Tuan »

Ramana ji, IMHO, we should read everything and be our own judge! Btw, how could you claim that the article is western propaganda when it bashes Uncle Sam?

Below is another article on ISIS...please read it with an open mind. You must take anything I say with a pinch of salt... :lol:

Where Do ISIS Fighters Go When the Caliphate Falls?
The “hardcore fighters,” especially the foreign ones within the inner circle of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his top commanders, will likely remain in Iraq and Syria, and look to join the underground resistance of an “ISIS, 2.0.” In all likelihood, these guerrilla insurgent shards of ISIS will congeal into a clandestine terrorist organization. Besides conducting sporadic raids, ambushes, and, perhaps, spectacular attacks using suicide tactics, these ISIS fighters will rest, rearm, and recuperate.

During this time, the militants may switch their allegiances between a smattering of groups on the ground, including ISIS, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and Ahrar al-Sham (already a loose coalition of Islamist and Salafist units), and will actively seek out ungoverned areas still beyond the writ of either Syrian or Iraqi government forces and their allies. As the terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman has suggested, if the fortunes of ISIS continue to decline, there may be a group of jihadists that see rapprochement with al-Qaeda as the only option to continue their struggle. Interviews with some Western ISIS fighters suggest that the ideological differences between al-Qaeda and ISIS are too significant to be bridged quickly, but this may change over time.

A second group of fighters are those potential “free agents” or mercenaries who are prevented from returning to their home countries. They can be expected to form a cohort of stateless jihadists who will travel abroad in search of the the next jihadi theater—Yemen, Libya, West Africa, or Afghanistan—to protect, sustain, and expand the boundaries of the so-called caliphate. These are the militant progeny of the original mujahideen, or transnational jihadists that once filled the ranks of al-Qaeda and fought in Afghanistan against the Soviets, and in Chechnya and the Balkans. ISIS affiliates and local Sunni jihadists in these places would likely welcome an influx of battle-hardened comrades.

And then there is the third group of foreign fighters: “the returnees.” This is the cohort that most concerns those in counterterrorism circles. These fighters may attempt to return to their countries of origin, like Tunisia or Saudi Arabia, or go further afield to Europe, Asia, or North America. States with more robust national defense structures—well-trained border police, world-class intelligence services—stand a better chance of blunting their impact. But all Western security services are not created equal: Some will inevitably have a tougher time containing this threat than others. Further complicating the issue is the inability among nation-states, especially those within the European Union, to even agree on the definition of “foreign fighter.”
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by SSridhar »

Tremendous work by ATS and others.

the Indian faction of the ISIS is assuming larger proportions.

Madhya Pradesh train blast: 'Mastermind' Al-Qasim, a self-proclaimed India 'emir' of 'Khorasan group' - P.Naveen, ToI
The "Khorasan module", which was behind the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train blast+ , had more dangerous plan up their sleeve, said an official after the overnight interrogation of the arrested members of the group on Wednesday.

The "mastermind" of the train terror strike has been identified as Atif Mujaffar alias Al-Qasim, a well-off engineering student from Aligarh and the self-proclaimed 'emir' (chief) of the so-called the "Khorasan module" in India.

The "Khorasan module", an Islamic State offshoot based near the Afghan-Pakistan border, is expanding to new areas
, recruiting fighters and widening the reach of attacks in the region.

Bolstered by fighters from Pakistani and other militant groups and an active social media presence, some officials said the "Khorasan module" of ISIS had become an "umbrella organization" for disparate movements.

Officials said Atif had placed the timer pipe bomb on the train at Bhopal railway station injuring 10 passengers, three of them seriously, when the train was reaching Jabdi station in Shajapur district on Tuesday morning around 9.40 am.

Atif was arrested along with Danish Akthar alias Zafar of Kanpur and Sayyed Mir Hussain alias Hamza by the MP ATS at around 1.30pm from a bus near Pipariya in Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad district.

Mohammed Saiful+ , who was cornered by Uttar Pradesh ATS inside a house in Thakurganj area on the outskirts of Lucknow, and Danish Akhtar were Atif's deputies.

Danish had lived in Bhopal for a year taking petty jobs and was aware of the road maps in the city.

The operation to nab terrorists was being jointly supervised by MP ATS IG Sanjeev Shami and his UP counterpart Aseem Arun.

"Atif is a self-motivated jihadist. He was tempted by the Islamic extremism around two years ago. He came in contact with some of the extremists on internet and became a fanatic devoted to the Islamic State's cause," said an officer wishing anonymity.

He was in touch with international terror modules on 'Telegram' - a heavily-encrypted messaging app, built by a Russian developer, ensuring the privacy of users. 'Telegram' is increasingly being used by Islamic extremists.

Investigators have collected ample evidence against these accused. They have got the CCTV footage from the Bhopal railway station where three of them - Atif, Danish and Mir Hussein - can be seen walking out of the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train.


Officials have also got hold of Atif's mobile phone. Atif used his mobile to send a picture of himself placing the bomb. "We have got significant evidence to take this case to a logical conclusion," said the officer.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Lucknow encounter ends: Here's what all happened - ToI
Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) commandos on early Wednesday morning gunned down a suspected IS operative in an anti-terror operation that lasted for almost 12 hours in the thickly-populated Thakurganj area of Lucknow in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

12-HOUR LONG OPERATION ENDS

One terror suspect was neutralised as anti-terror operation in Thakurganj area of Lucknow ended after almost 12 hours in the wee hours of Wednesday.

Police refuted as "false" earlier reports of two terror suspects holed up in a house in the outskirts of Lucknow. "After opening the doors of the house, where the terrorist was holed up, the force went inside and found the suspect dead along with weapons," Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Daljit Chaudhary said.

THE CONFUSION

There was plenty of confusion during the encounter. The ATS had managed to drill a micro tube camera through the roof of the house in which the Islamic State operative Saifullah was holed up. Imagery suggested that there was another person. However at the end of the encounter it was found that Saifullah was alone. During the course of the encounter, the police managed to nab two persons, Faizan and Imran who are believed to have assisted Saifullah in executing the train bombing. The IG of the ATS Assem Arun said that they tried to get Saifullah to surrender. However he refused to do so and said, "I want to attain shahdat (martyrdom)."

CHILLI BOMBS TO SMOKE TERRORIST OUT

According to IG ATS Aseem Arun, forces first made all the efforts to nab the suspected terrorist alive, but when that didn't materialise forces had to fire tear gas shells and chilly bombs. And again holed up terrorist Saifullah didn't surrender. "The commandos where then stormed inside the house, after issuing a warning to the terrorist," Arun said, adding "The suspected terrorist fired at the ATS commandos, which was then appropriately retaliated by the commandos."

WAR-LIKE ARMS CACHE RECOVERED

Eight pistols, 650 rounds of ammunition, 50 fired rounds, explosives materials, gold, some cash, passports and SIM cards recovered from the terrorist, Police said.

CROWD GAPES AT LIVE ANTI-TERROR OP


The area in the sleepy outskirts of the Lucknow city turned into war-zone as a posse of policemen swooped down at a single storey house among a cluster of semi-finished residential premises at the far end of Haji colony in Kakori police circle on Tuesday afternoon. Resident's ran for cover as cops assembled around the four-room structure and action grew intense as several police vehicles reached the site carrying a squad of commandos in black uniforms jumping off to take position.

THE HIDEOUT

According to reports, the house belonged to Badshah Khan, resident of Malihabad, and the accused had been living there with two others for the past two months. They posed as students and did not mingle with the neighbours, an ATS official said and informed that efforts were now underway to nab the two accomplices who were at large.

The Madhya Pradesh state police were quick to suggest that the train explosion on the Bhopal-Ujjain express was an act of terror. However what is more important is that the police said that the terror suspect, identified as Mohammad Saifurullah alias Ali, a resident of Kanpur, was a member of the ISIS Khorasan module and was getting directions from a handler abroad. Saifullah was linked the group that triggered a low-intensity blast in Bhopal-Ujjain train on Tuesday morning, injuring 10 passengers. The morning blast on the train at Jabri railway station in Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh was the first instance of a terror strike by an IS module in India.


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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by arun »

X Posted from the Islamism thread, further plans of the Mohammadden Terrorist group involved in the above mentioned Madhya Pradesh train bombing.

Indian Mohammaddens in Uttar Pradesh now fall prey to the well demonstrated urge from around the world for Mohammaddens to slaughter co-religionists for obscure difference in interpretation of the tenents of their shared belief.

Members of Sunni Mohammadden outfit, Islamic State (IS) aka ISIS, in Uttar Pradesh, were planning to indulge in a spot of Green on Green Intra-Mohammadden bloodletting by carrying out serial blasts at Deva Shareef, a shrine dedicated to a Sufi Mohammadden by name of Waris Ali Shah.

Yesterdays bombing of the Bhopal – Ujjain passenger train near Jabri in Madhya Pradesh was apparently a trial run to “test efficasy” of the pipe bombs planned for the Green on Green attack planned for Deva Shareef:
Members of the state’s first Islamic State (IS) cell were planning to carry out serial blasts at Deva Shareef—the shrine of most-revered Sufi saint, Waris Ali Shah—on March 27, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) has found.

Details of an elaborate plan to attack the shrine were recovered from a laptop used by one of the cell’s member, who was picked up after a blast on Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train on Tuesday.

Two youths — Faizan and Imran of Kanpur — were picked up after the blast, another Saifullah was neutralised in Lucknow while a mobile shop owner Azhar of Kanpur escaped.

Sources said the bombs used in the explosion were a part of a ‘trial’ to test the efficacy of the explosives that the IS cell had planned to use at the Sufi shrine.
From Hindustan Tiimes:

‘Islamic State planned Pak Sufi shrine-like attack on Kanpur’s Deva Shareef’
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Yagnasri »

http://www.oneindia.com/india/won-t-acc ... 68475.html

We can sympathise with the parents of the terrorist who may not know about his activities. As long as Muslims think that the person who says five times Namaz is a good man there will be this kind of incidences. It is clearly denial mode which the community continue to live in even when the evidence staring in their face.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by bharotshontan »

Yagnasri wrote:http://www.oneindia.com/india/won-t-acc ... 68475.html

We can sympathise with the parents of the terrorist who may not know about his activities. As long as Muslims think that the person who says five times Namaz is a good man there will be this kind of incidences. It is clearly denial mode which the community continue to live in even when the evidence staring in their face.
These people are like fish out of water in the age of all this cyber-radicalization. Indic Islam needs to be co-opted into Hindutva or else we're facing a potential of millions of ISIS types within India. At the same time, Ghar Wapsi needs to distribute ISIS literature to the aam abduls and tell them this is what real Islam looks like, not your baap-dada's Hindu-fied Islam but this is what your next generation is looking like. We should aggressively target the families of these terrorists for ghar wapsi as they have seen what real peacefulism has done for them. Medieval era Mohammedan conquerors used to force-convert with priority those Hindus that defied them first, so same coin needs to be paid back.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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S.Sridhar, You need to write two primers on ISIS in India and AQIS. Lot of confusion even among govt operatives combating this menace. We should include a flow chart to determine AQIS or ISIS.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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ramana, Insh'a Alla'h.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ranjan.rao »

The question no one seems to be asking in MSM is that how did an unemployed man acquire multiple pistols and made pipe bombs. Who financed it, who provided the weapons. Asking whether he was IS or not is important, but the pistols were not teleported from Syria and funded by Oil Futures. These loopholes need to be addressed before we ask other questions
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Hyderabad intel squad helped MP and UP police apprehend IS suspects and reach Lucknow lair - Bharti Jain, Economic Times
Were it not for a small group of intelligence experts in Telangana dedicated to tracking individuals and groups inspired by the so-called Islamic State, central agencies and Madhya Pradesh police might still have been scrambling to track down the terrorists behind the Ujjain train blast.

The Telangana unit had been closely scouring the web, following the suspects who were arrested from MP and Uttar Pradesh, as well as Saifullah who was killed by the UP ATS in Lucknow, well before they executed their terror plan. The team missed the actualisation of the terror plans narrowly, defeated by the lag in decoding encryption.


"All the inputs regarding identity and location of the radicalised, IS-inspired suspects came from the intelligence-cum-IT experts of Telangana police, which immediately shared these for further action. Unfortunately, though they busted the module, they could not get a sense of its terror plan in real time. This happens sometimes as it is not always possible for intel to immediately decipher the encrypted online conversations," said a senior intelligence officer.

But as soon as the blast occurred , the Hyderabad-based experts were able to pinpoint the location of the suspects based on phone intercepts and online activity, enabling MP and UP cops to nab them swiftly.

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The intelligence wing of the Telangana police has emerged a pioneer in tracking IS activity regularly inputing the IB and RAW to track radicalised "lone-wolf" operatives as well as modules in touch with foreign-based handlers. This task is being carried out by other state police forces and central agencies too but the Telangana team seems to have become adept at the task.

Sources said the Telangana 'IS' trackers are a small, motivated lot, who are provided the resources as well as financial incentives to deliver. They often travel abroad, mostly to Gulf countries, to track members of the Indian diaspora working as head-hunters for IS or carrying out online radicalisation. "Many IS operatives were deported to India after months of tracking by these experts, who would then pass off this information to RAW," said a central government officer who has worked closely with the Telangana police.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Lucknow encounter: Ex-IAF man, 'mastermind' of terror group, held in Kanpur - PTI
Police on Thursday arrested a former IAF employee who they believe is the "mastermind" of a terror module that included Saifullah, a suspected terrorist killed in an encounter yesterday.

Mohd Ghaus Khan was picked up from Kanpur by the Anti- Terrorist Squad, and revealed vital information during questioning, said Additional Director General of UP Police Daljit Chaudhary.

He said another suspect, identified only as Azhar, was also arrested by the ATS.

Khan "is a technical man and a hardcore member of the module," Chaudhary said, adding he was the "main accused and mastermind" of the module.

He said Azhar, the second suspect, was the main supplier of arms to the module. He did not say where he was arrested from, or in what capacity Khan worked in the air force.

The UP police claimed that with these two arrests, all the main members of what they alleged was an ISIS influenced module are in custody.
The latest arrests raised to five the number of people in the UP police custody
in connection with the blast on the Bhopal-Ujjain train in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. The MP police also has arrested some people.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

The eight pistols that were found in Lucknow, what was the caliber and make?

ArmenT, Can you make out the mfg?
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The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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X Posted on the STFUP Thread

How strong is Islamic State in Pakistan?

Security forces have successfully busted several attempts by Islamic State to establish itself in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, but their continued activities in Pakistan show the threat they pose is as real as it gets.

The militant organisation, originally based in the Syria-Iraq region, recently claimed responsibility for the attack on Lal Shahbaz Qalandar’s shrine in Sehwan, which killed over 80 people. Last year, it had taken responsibility for an attack on the police academy in Quetta.

Islamic State was not considered dangerous until it located itself in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, bordering Pakistan’s tribal areas. It announced its formal establishment in January 2015 and since then has expanded its influence in the war-torn country by launching attacks in Jalalabad and Kabul and by making alliances with the local militants in the country.

Though the Afghan Taliban oppose Islamic State and have clashed with it several times, breakaway factions like the Mullah Rasool group are on good terms with the organisation. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which is now based in Afghanistan and has ties with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has also sworn allegiance to Islamic State.

IS in Pakistan

After establishing itself in the volatile Afghanistan, the banned outfit is believed to have developed ties with militant organisations in Pakistan. The possibility of Islamic State trying to grow its influence in Pakistan was already feared because many of its leaders and members in Afghanistan have strong connections with Pakistan. Its first head in Afghanistan Hafiz Saeed Khan was born in Orakzai Agency and was a TTP commander initially. His maiden twelve-member shura consisted of nine Pakistanis, two Afghans, and one person of unknown origin. Abu Haseeb, who succeeded Khan after he was killed in a drone attack, studied in Pakistani madrassas and has links with Pakistani militants.

A number of other TTP commanders and militants also joined Islamic State after they escaped military operations in Pakistan. Videos were released in 2014 and 2015 showing several of the TTP former commanders pledging allegiance to Abu Bakr alBaghdadi – the leader of Islamic State. Several members of other militant groups have done so such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which reportedly partnered with Islamic State for the attack on Quetta’s police training school last year.

Reports about the arrest of Islamic State members from Lahore, Sialkot and Gujranwala also point at the group’s efforts for establishing itself in the country. A few members were arrested in Peshawar as well, carrying pamphlets inscribed with warnings against polio vaccinations, while earlier, pamphlets were distributed in Kurram Agency with threats of attacks in the area. Pro-Islamic State wall chalking was also reported in different parts of the country including Karachi and Gilgit.

It is believed that Islamic State, with thousands of members in Afghanistan, has a relatively smaller number of followers living in Pakistan, that too in hiding. The group allegedly recruited about 50 young refugees in Pakistan and sent them to Afghanistan for militant training. The news of Bushra Cheema, an educated woman from Lahore who went to Syria along with her four children, also garnered attention two years ago.

Regional context

As a militant organisation with regional ambitions, radical ideology, and large recruitment pool of existing and potential militants, Islamic State poses a threat not only to Pakistan and Afghanistan but to the entire region. Its recent expansion to Afghanistan’s eastern and northern parts rightfully ringed alarm bells to as far as Russia which blames the US for Islamic State’s presence in Afghanistan.

Earlier this year, Islamic State released media content targeting China specifically. The two videos asked Muslims around the world to fight the kafirs of China and to revenge the deaths of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.

India is also under its radar with the militant group carrying out supposedly its first attack in the country this week. A low-intensity blast in a train in Madhya Pradesh injured 10 passengers and prompted coordinated police operations which saw the arrest of eight Islamic State members.

Trouble in paradise

Though Pakistan has long been a hotbed of militant activities, concerned authorities believe Islamic State cannot put down roots in the country due to the ongoing operations including recently-launched Radd-ul-Fasad and many intelligence-based raids.

The security efforts, particularly those in the wake of Sehwan blast, are geared towards targeting all terrorists including Islamic State and their facilitators. The counter-terrorism measures also focus on dismantling the nexus between criminals and militants.

Pakistan is further coordinating with Russia, China, Afghanistan and other regional countries to contain terrorism and Islamabad’s participation in a recent Moscow meeting was part of its efforts to tackle the growing threat of Islamic State in the region.

Right strategy

With widespread military efforts against militants across Pakistan, it will be hard for Islamic State to establish itself in Pakistani territory. But its existence in Afghanistan can allow the banned group to continue carrying out cross-border attacks or coordinating with local militants to hit targets in Pakistan.

The situation demands strict border management which, as many analysts maintain, can only be possible if ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan – currently marred by a lack of trust – improve drastically.

A comprehensive response, in addition to security cooperation with Afghanistan and elimination of safe havens, should also include police training and programmes to counter radicalisation.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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The Islamic State of Khorasan - Edit in DT
Last week, Russian Television (RT) aired interview of Wikileaks founder Mr. Julian Assange with a UK based Australian journalist, Mr. John Pilger. Mr. Assange uncovered important facts about the wealthy officials from Saudi Arabia and Qatar donating money to the Hillary Clinton’s Foundation and Islamic State (IS) respectively. In 17 August 2014, Mr. Assange made public an email in which Hillary Clinton urged the then advisor to US President Barak Obama, Mr. John Podesta, to pressure Qatar and Saudi Arabia for funding Islamic State (IS). These revelations sparked wide-ranging debates in print and electronic media across the globe, which may possibly affect relations of the Qatar and Saudi governments with the Gulf and South Asian states. It is alleged that Saudi financial assistance to extremist organisations prompted unprecedented civil wars, devastation, torture and displacement of millions Muslims in Middle East, South Asia, and Gulf regions. Similar rumours are at spin regarding the militant Islamic group Daesh. There are different opinions about the strength and area of Daesh’s influence, but recent events proved that Daesh is more powerful than the Taliban terrorist groups. In January 2015, Islamic State (IS) announced the formation of another terrorist group named Islamic State of Khorasan (ISKP), which represents a Salafi school of thought and allegedly receives financial assistance from secret channels across the Durand Line.

The membership of this newly established terrorist group in Afghanistan and Pakistan is more than 20,000 at present, but keeping in view its sphere of influence and operations, experts fear that the group’s fast growing cadre can spread across South Asia in a relatively short space of time. The Islamic State of Khorasan has recently approached extremist sectarian groups of Pakistan for support, and distributed leaflets and other propaganda material in Pashtu, Urdu, and Persian languages to invite young people from different communities. This group also threatened India and Russia, and became a consecutive headache for Afghanistan. The group has established its networks in South and North Waziristan, Jalalabad, Kunar, and Nooristan province.

During the last 11 months, high profile defections in the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban increased the strength of the group, and expanded its military blanket to remote areas of Afghanistan. Police and intelligence experts in Pakistan believe the networks of Islamic State (IS) in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and parts of Punjab can at any time engage with security forces.
Punjab is the centre of dozens sectarian extremist groups operating with impunity. In July 2013, the TTP spokesman told BBC that the group had established its network in Syria with the help of Arab terrorists who fought in Afghan jihad in 1980s. He also admitted that 12 Pakistani Taliban with expertise in information technology had gone to Syria in 2016.

In Afghanistan, close cooperation between Daesh and some disgruntled Taliban groups has added to the pain of the Unity Government. The Khorasan terrorist group, which emerged with a strong military power in 2015, is in control of important districts in Jalalabad province. The group’s military tactics include beheading, public prosecution, kidnapping, and torture, looting and raping, and also forcing families from their homes.

Due to the weakness of Taliban and local administration, the Islamic State of Khorasan expanded its networks to all districts of Jalalabad. In Kunar, Nooristan and Jalalabad provinces, more than 13 terrorist groups are operating with their strong networks. Some of the groups including Quetta Shura, Tora Bora Jihadi group, Gul Buddin Hekmatyar group, Salafi group, Fidayee Karwan, Sia Pushan groups (identified as black-clad and masked terrorists) are in clandestine collaboration with the Khorasan group, TTP, and Lashkar-e-Islam group. In Mohmand Agency, Jamaat Al Ahrar and TTP are operating in collaboration with ISKP.

The influx of terrorist groups like Khorasan and Taliban in Jalalabad province has challenged the writ of the local administration. Afghan President Ghani also warned that 30 terrorist groups operating across the country pose serious threat to the national security of Afghanistan. The UN experts also believe that more than 45,000 terrorists are fighting against the Afghan National army and between 20 to 25 percent are foreigners. Propaganda machine of the Islamic State (IS) is also causing a great concern for parents as their school going children become victim of the so called jihadist culture.

The full body of Islamic State machine is strong as its radio stations, photographic reports, and bulletins are being circulated in different languages. Internet is also the source of propaganda of the ISKP groups where experts of the group disseminate controversial information through videos and articles. Moreover, the group has challenged the presence of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Last week, some members of Afghan parliament severely criticised the United States and its NATO allies for their support to the Islamic State.

They also raised the question of foreign financial support to the terrorist group, and asked the Unity Government to positively respond to the brutalities and atrocities of the IS commanders. However, Daesh has also spread its evil tentacles to the North to control provinces bordering Russia and China. The group wants to infiltrate into Chinese Muslim province and parts of Central Asia and challenge the authority of local governments there. The civilian deaths in Afghanistan have become a routine as innocent women and girls are kidnapped, raped and tortured in the group’s secret prisons in Kunar and Jalalabad provinces. The Islamic State fighters are being facilitated by the corrupt commanders of the Afghan government. They are sheltered, armed and transported by them to their destination.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

So that is the Daily Crimes POV of ISI.
And they use ISIS and Daesh when ever and blame corrupt Afghans govt for the rise of this monsters.
And blame the good Taliban for supporting them!!!! Hekmatyar et al.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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‘Saifullah was a caliphate soldier’ - Vijaita Singh, The Hindu
Indian officials said they were verifying a message posted by a pro-Islamic State (IS) Telegram channel which identified Saifullah, who was killed in an encounter in Lucknow earlier this week, as a soldier of the ‘caliphate.’

A senior official in the Intelligence establishment told The Hindu that the “time gap” between the Lucknow encounter and the time when the message was circulated on the Telegram channels showed that the IS was not directly behind it.


Saifullah was part of the alleged terror module, which planted a bomb on a train near Bhopal on March 7. The messages have been circulating on mobile application Telegram since March 9, two days after the incident.

An official said they were suspicious of the message as it was not posted by the official channels of the IS, but by a group supporting the terror organisation and was part of “casual conversation” among its sympathisers.

Police backtracked

After initially claiming that the nine-member module belonged to the IS, the Uttar Pradesh police retracted the statement and said the group was “self radicalised” and was inspired by the IS.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh also did not mention IS in his statement to Parliament. He however, described Saifullah as a “suspected terrorist.”


U.S.-based intelligence website Site Intel Group posted a screen grab of the Telegram message on Twitter, which said, “Pro-#ISIS Telegram Channel Incites for Attacks in #India, Points to Suspected IS Fighter Saifullah as Example.” The website also posted a photo of Saifullah describing him as a “soldier of the Khilafah from India.”

A security establishment official said: “ We are verifying the message but we have seen in the past that whenever IS has claimed an attack, it posts pictures of its members taken much before they are killed. In this case, they have posted a photograph, which was released by the U.P. police.”

The police said the accused were self-proclaimed members of the IS and had even recovered a hand-painted signature black flag of the IS from the rented house on the outskirts of Lucknow, where Saifullah was killed.

“IS Telegram channels are not necessarily run by the IS hierarchy itself,”said Kabir Taneja, associate fellow, Observer Research Foundation.

While the Home Minister avoided naming any outfit for the alleged terror attack on a passenger train, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told a news agency on Wednesday that the accused belonged to the IS and had even sent the photograph of the bomb to their handler in Syria.

Eight people have been arrested so far in raids across M.P and U.P.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

Still would be interesting how and why the Saifullah had acquired those 8 pistols and 500 rounds for a standoff with himself. Were those arrested supposed to come back for a last stand?

I don't like the press idiots and chatteratti to discuss how this fellow was identified as IS.
Taneja knows nothing.
Should keep quiet.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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NIA hunts for 5 men from T.N. for IS links - The Hindu
One of the accused — Nouman Jaleel, a civil engineer from Hyderabad — was picked up by agencies last year and was released after being counselled. He had alleged at a press conference that the NIA was forcing him to become a witness against a few suspects, who were arrested from Hyderabad in July for alleged activities supporting the IS.

Fakkrudeen and his family became citizens of Singapore six years ago. In November 2013, he, along with his wife and three children, went to Syria, but came back to India as he could not establish any contact with IS operatives there.

In Syria, he is reported to have stayed with some Chechen Mujahideen. On January 22, 2014, he left Chennai for Syria through Turkey and has been untraceable since.

Damoodi had earlier funded three men from Hyderabad who had attempted twice to flee India. They first tried to go to Syria through Bangladesh and Afghanistan. When they were caught, a second attempt was made to go to the Kashmir Valley but they were caught at the Nagpur airport.

“All this while they were available and evidence was being collected against them. As soon as a case was registered against them in January this year, all of them have slipped off the radar. At least two left the country in the past two years,” said the official. :((

An FIR filed by the NIA said: “A group of nine persons — eight hailing from Tamil Nadu and one from Telangana — and some other unknown persons, with the intention to further the activities of Daesh/Islamic State, a banned terrorist organisation in India, hatched a criminal conspiracy in Chennai and other parts of the country by forming a terrorist gang which raised and received funds, organised camps, recruited and trained some persons, and facilitated their travel to Syria to join the IS.”
Last edited by ramana on 17 Mar 2017 04:24, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added highlights. Ramana
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

I haven't come across a name like Nouman Jameel in Hyderabad.

Most likely he is also of TN origins living in Hyderabad.

The article says NIA hunts for 5 people. The FIR says 9 people formed criminal conspiracy.

I think four are caught most likely in Hyderabad.


Also very odd that these guys are caught and arrested and freed. and repeat the offences.

Looks like long reach of Chidambaram and his saffron terror obsession led to this.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Probe into train accidents leads NIA to Kanpur NGO - Bharti Jain, ToI
The probe into the role of the so-called Islamic State in train accidents has set investigators on the trail of Satya Sandesh Foundation (SSF), an NGO that claims to be dedicated to Islamic preaching, and an IS recruit Ahsan, possibly the first person born Shia but working for the Sunni group. :!:

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing how activists of the Kanpurbased foundation, linked to IS members behind the Bhopal-Ujjain train blast, promptly reached the site of the Kanpur train accident on November 20, 2016.

During investigations into the March 7 train blast, the NIA discovered that Ahsan (see graphic), who attended a July 2016 meeting at a plot owned by the Kanpur-Lucknow module's `amir' Atif Muzaffar near Kanpur, was the son of an SSF follower.

Ahsan opting for Ahle Hadith is unusual as Shias have been locked in a bitter armed conflict with IS in West Asia with Sunni hardliners, who regard them as non-Muslims.


According to an investigator, though SSF officially claims to propagate Quranic teachings, it is known to work actively on conversions to Islam. Some Hindus have been converted through SSF, he added.

What has really baffled the NIA is that SSF activists swiftly reached the site of the Patna-Indore Express derailment last year. "It needs to be verified how they came to know about the accident so quickly ," said an officer.

Interestingly, members in the IS-inspired module associated with SSF had trained extensively in derailment methods. The NIA suspects a former Indian Air Force staffer in the module, G M Sahab, was an ISI mole as he had been advising the group on derailment of trains through explosives etc.

The lens on the IS module's link with the Kanpur derailment coincides with the NIA's probe into the claims of an accused arrested over a failed bid to blast tracks in Bihar. Motilal Paswan had, in his initial statement to Bihar police, claimed that he was involved in planting the bomb at Kanpur at the instance of Nepalese handler Brij Kishore Giri.


NIA investigations in Nepal have seen them question ISI linkman Shamshul Hoda, who is said to have admitted that he had, at the behest of ISI, engaged criminals for the Bihar bid. But he has not spoken of any role in the Kanpur derailment. Giri could not be questioned by the NIA team as he is still recuperating from a bullet injury .

A group comprising IIT experts is looking at evidence to establish the possibility of an explosion having caused the derailment.The NIA is still awaiting metallurgical reports for the Koneru train accident to get indications of a possible sabotage angle.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Lucknow-Mumbai Pushpak Express was original target of self-styled IS module - Bharti Jain & Neeraj Chauhan, ToI
The Mumbai-bound Pushpak Express from Lucknow was the original target of the recently busted terror module inspired by the so-called Islamic State (IS). However, the alertness of passengers forced the bombers to abandon the plan and place an IED on the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train instead, triggering the March 7 blast that injured nine.

Details of the probe, accessed exclusively by TOI, reveal that the IS module, after collecting arms, ammunition and explosives, decided on March 1 to carry out some "quick" action. On March 3 and 4, the module recceed the Lucknow railway station to see how the IED could be safely smuggled into the train.

Interrogation of the module's arrested members, including its `amir' or head Atif Muzaffar, has revealed that around 7.30pm on March 6, he and two others, Mohd Danish and Syed Meer Hussain, boarded Pushpak Express at Lucknow with a bomb given to them by Saifullah, the coconspirator killed in an encounter after the blast.

But as luck would have it, they realised that they could not plant the bomb without alerting passengers. They deboarded at Bhopal around 7.30am the next day , and on finding the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train ready for departure, decided to plant the IED on it instead. The IED was placed in the last passenger coach at 8.30am, after which Atif and Danish fled and joined Syed, who was waiting outside the Bhopal station.They then boarded a bus to Pipariya, from where they were arrested the same day .

According to intelligence agencies, the suspects realised it was Tuesday and that the train would be crowded with devotees headed for a famous Hanuman temple at Bolai station. Atif, 23, leader of the self-radicalised module, was a firm believer in the IS ideology of establishing a Sunni caliphate. An avid follower of the controversial preacher Zakir Naik, Atif used the Rs 70 lakh inheritance he received after the death of his father to further his jihadi mission. He also sold a plot he owned to pay for the activities of the module.

It was in February 2016 that Atif, along with Saifullah, Danish and one Faisal, decided to form a core group. For the next 5-6 months, the group criss-crossed the country to explore ways of migrating to Iraq-Syria. They explored land and air routes, visiting Srinagar, Jaisalmer, Mumbai, Kolkata and Kozhikode.

They then planned on targeting non-Muslims within India and, with that in mind, procured seven pistols from contacts in UP and IED components like pipes, crackers, analogue watches and ball bearings from a Kanpur market. Atif, Danish and Saifullah learnt bomb-making from an IS manual and prepared an IED, successfully testing it in a field near Kanpur. A second test was on the railway track but with minimal impact.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Security stepped up at Taj Mahal after report suggests possible threat from ISIS - TimesNow
After a media report sounded an alert of a possible threat to the Taj Mahal from the terror outfit ISIS, security has been stepped up in Agra.

"A link has been circulated in which it is claimed that Taj Mahal is on the target of ISIS. We are probing it. However, security has been enhanced in and around the monument," Daljeet Singh Chowdhury, Additional Director General, Law and Order said.

Security was beefed up after a website showed a graphic representation of the Taj Mahal with a terrorist standing beside it, holding what looked like a weapon.

Reports suggest that a pro-ISIS media group published a graphic depicting Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world, as a possible target of the terror outfit.

The graphic was released almost a week after security agencies conducted combing operations in Uttar Pradesh in which one accused - Saifullah - was killed and six others were arrested.

It was reported that Saifullah was brainwashed by ISIS through the online medium and had carried out an attack on a train in Bhopal.

The graphic features an ISIS fighter wearing combat fatigues and black headgear armed with an assault rifle standing near the Taj Mahal. It also features three inset pictures - an image of Taj Mahal within crosshairs with the words "New Target" below it, a van with the Arabic text "Agra istishhadi" (Agra martyrdom-seeker) written in English, implying the threat of a suicide bombing, and an image of a "bomb.”

The internal security of Taj Mahal, which is a favourite spot of foreign as well as domestic tourists, is provided by the Central Industrial Security Force, a central para-military force entrusted with the task of protecting industrial units, airports, metro rail and various other sensitive places.

The Uttar Pradesh Police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) man the outer periphery. Outside the 500 metre security ring, police teams keep a strict watch on the movement of vehicles both on the western gate parking and the Shilpgram parking slot towards the eastern gate.

Last month, CISF personnel went into a tizzy when a youth from Tamil Nadu tried to scale the walls of the monument. The 31-year-old man from Tamil Nadu was later handed over to local police.

In April last year, three youths from Delhi had tried to scale the wall of the Taj Mahal in an inebriated state. They were arrested by CISF personnel and handed over to the local police.
Twin explosions near Agra station - PTI
Two low-intensity explosions occurred in Agra Cantt railway station’s vicinity on Saturday morning, just hours after Andaman Express crashed into a huge boulder on the tracks near another station 20 km away and police recovered a note at the site threatening of terror attacks.

No one was injured in the two incidents, police said.

Police has cordoned off the Agra Cantt railway station and senior police officials have inspected the area.

“Two explosions were heard early today. The UP police has taken over and now forensic investigations are being done to determine the cause,” Divisional Railway Manager Prabhash Kumar told PTI.

Police sources said the two explosions were heard as garbage was being dumped into a tractor trolly near the railway station. Investigations were on and locals were being questioned.

On Friday evening, a note threatening terror attacks was found near Bhandai railway station, 20 km away, by police after a major mishap was averted when the alert train driver of Andaman Express from Chennai to Jammu saw a huge boulder on the tracks.

“Luckily, the engine driver had seen it in time and applied emergency brakes. A note threatening terrorist attacks was found at the spot,” police said.

The train crashed into the boulder but since the speed was low, it did not cause any major damage, it said.

Security has also been enhanced at the Taj Mahal in the wake of a media report of a threat to the 17th century monument from terror outfit ISIS.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Tuan »

How Proxy Insurgents of the Past Have Transformed into Modern Terrorist Organizations
The Anatomy of a Terrorist Cell

Many have argued that, to fight in war, the most basic and important asset is that of a secret service or organization specifically dedicated to intelligence gathering operations. It may be a government agency or the military, but this is also relevant to non-state actors or terrorist groups. Thus, it is vital to analyze the anatomy and structure of terrorist cells to better understand the modus operandi of terrorist organizations. Simply put, a terrorist cell is the systematic network of the organization’s members. Even though the Terms of Engagements and/or the Rules of Engagements differ from a conventional force, a terrorist network’s secret mission and/or operation remain well-organized and professional. It was once understood that terrorist networks were not well structured; however, after incurring heavy losses, such as losing valuable agents and informants to arrest and identification by nation states’ security and intelligence agencies, terrorist organizations came to realize that they must establish a professional intelligence unit.

Because terrorist organizations don’t have the same resources that government intelligence agencies have, they mostly rely solely on Human Intelligence as opposed to more sophisticated Signal Intelligence, Electronic Intelligence, Imagery Intelligence, Technical Intelligence, etc. However, because terrorist organizations were once state-sponsored, they emulate and resemble professional military and intelligence agencies, thereby demonstrating how terrorist organizations adopt and apply the tradecraft training and intelligence they received from nation states. To illustrate, the Principal Agent Handler (PAH) and his team consist of an Agent Handler, a Deputy Agent Handler and more than a dozen Principal Agents. See the following diagram for a visual representation of the structure of the agent handling model. The PAH directs the Agent Handler, Deputy Agent Handler, and Principal Agents within the organization’s controlled areas. They work from inside offices and are known as “Desk Agents”. There is a second set of agents directed by PAH who work in the field (hostile area) controlled by the enemy. They are known as “Field Agents”. There is always a middle man who works as a “contact” or “go between” for Desk Agents and Field Agents. He is known as the Intermediary or Cut-Out.

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Intelligence-gathering is, by its very nature, a difficult task, but of utmost importance. Terrorist organizations are extremely cautious when recruiting their agents and informants. Most of the time they tend to cultivate personnel from the same religious or ethno-nationalist groups who show potential for accessing enemy targets. For every member hired, each must undergo an extensive background check. The organization focuses on the individual’s profile, including his/her character, vulnerabilities, and motivation to assess if he/she is the right person for the job.

Recruits must go through a special training period to acquire the skills necessary to perform assigned tasks. These include specific techniques in the trade of espionage, which is called “tradecraft” and could include such specialties as agent-handling, covert communication, counter-interrogation, reconnaissance, coding and decoding, drawing maps, photography, martial arts, linguistic skills, flying, driving, swimming, diving and so on. Once a recruit completes the tradecraft and skill training period, the handlers assess each recruit, keeping the individual’s potential and background in mind, to confirm whether he/she is fit to become an agent or informant. This recruitment process greatly resembles that of professional military and intelligence agencies, thereby illustrating how terrorist organizations adopt and apply the training and intelligence they have received from nation states.

Before spies and informants are assigned to a mission, they are instructed on every single detail of the target. The target could be soft or hard, such as a VIP member or a football stadium –whatever it may be, the handlers brief every detail and then debrief for further intelligence. Informants must learn about the specific physical environment beforehand so that they can easily provide updates on selected targets. To make this task easier, many organization prefer to hire refugees, students and government employees working in the area, selecting them carefully after identifying and confirming their potential usefulness, because they have already spent years within that environment and have become a part of that environment. Their social and human capital is recognized as a valuable human resource.

All these agents work together to analyze, assess, and exploit the intelligence they have gathered. The final intelligence product is sent to the decision makers, that is, the top leader such as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who decide whether or not to take advantage of the information for tactical, operational, or strategic purposes. Whether the decision makers take action or not, the Principal Agent Handler and his staff make weekly assessments to update the Data Bank.

Once all intelligence has been gathered, it must be centralized in the Data Bank: a large repository of data on a particular topic that is only accessible by a limited number of users. The Principal Agent Handler oversees the Data Bank. He is provided with thousands of situational briefing reports every day from various sources, including intelligence wing operatives (spies) who operate all over the world; foreign fighters, students, and government employees (informants) across the world; special reconnaissance teams; local-patrolling and open-source intelligence-gathering.

Successful intelligence gathering depends on secure and covert communication. Without security, there is no intelligence; therefore, it is of utmost importance that an organization protect its human assets. This can only be done if there is a systematic way for intelligence to flow from hostile areas to the organization’s Data Bank. It is the Principal Agent Handler’s responsibility to make sure that his sources are safe and secure. This structure of ranking and communication protocol is also adopted from state military agencies.

Within hostile areas, there are well-established agents working for the PAH known as Resident Agents (RA) who organize and direct compartmentalized “cells” that are operating in the field. Each RA deals with a maximum of 4-5 Agents (e.g. A, B, C, D, E) who are cultivated or hired and trained by those Desk Agents. See the diagram below for a visual representation of the cells. Since agents work under a considerable amount of risk, they are proactively given a cover story to ensure their security. For instance, the perfect cover story for an RA would be a well-known journalist who lives in the area, sending and receiving information from all parts of the country. A marine engineer working in a harbor would be the perfect cover story for an informant.

Image

When an RA contacts one of his agents and/or informants to exchange information, he must be extremely careful so not to expose or compromise them to anyone. The RA would therefore meet with them in different Safe Houses, and afterwards, the Intermediary would meet with the RA in a separate Safe House to pass the information on further to the Desk Agents.

In special cases, an Agent might contact the PAH directly without going through the RA and/or the Intermediary. In such instances, the Agent would use covert communications and code sheets to pass along the information. These kinds of cells are not only used for transferring information but are also used to transfer other resources such as weapons and personnel. For example, when al Qaeda planned an attack on World Trade Center in New York City, they commenced with the acquisition of field blueprints. To acquire these blueprints, al Qaeda members would identify themselves as employees at the facility. This Agent/Informant is then instructed to contact the RA or a separate cell on a regular basis to provide contemporary intelligence. An Intermediary would contact the RA to obtain the information in order to pass it along to the Principal Agent, or mail the information in segments directly to him.

Terrorist organizations also hire other agents who work, for example, as a cleaner to provide technical information such as storage, electric boards, the number of employees in the building, opening and closing hours and so on. He/she would give the information to the RA or mail it directly to the Principal Agent or even the Principal Agent Handler. Throughout this intelligence gathering, the Data Bank provides information to the Intelligence Wing for the building of a model of the target while another cell becomes engaged in training personnel on how to execute the mission, using the same process of agent handling.

Finally, the attack squad would be trained and briefed about the plan and sent to different locations using different routes. Since 9/11 was an airborne attack, in which civilian aircrafts were used as weapons, the RA would’ve coordinated the hijackers. Since many suicide bombers would be required for such a big attack, they would have been pre-emptively cultivated as “sleepers” to be used in the long-term. A sleeper is an inactive undercover agent who is cultivated over a long period of time to be used over such time. Sleepers would be contacted by the Principal Agent Handler to be briefed on the plan and provided with instructions and resources through different cells. The Principal Agent Handler would not, under any circumstance, expose or compromise the sleeper to the rest of the cells or vice versa, to ensure everyone’s security. Overall, the complexity of the modus operandi of terrorist organizations illustrates the value that nation state training offers. Unfortunately, the damage has already been done, so we must focus on how to address the byproducts of proxies.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Three ISIS posters found in Rohtas village in Bihar - Debashish Karmakar , ToI
Three posters carrying the name of ISIS and asking youths in Bihar to join the terror organisation were found pasted on electric poles at Maoist-infested Sikrauli Bihga village under Nauhatta police station in Rohtas district, around 150km from here [Patna], on Saturday.

Police sources said the posters in English claimed that the terror group has its presence in all parts of the country, including Bihar. Logo and photos of ISIS are also there on the posters. Police and intelligence personnel have reached the village to verify the authenticity of the posters.

SHO of Nauhatta police station Sanjay Kumar said the police received information about the posters around 6am. "We have launched an investigation," the SHO added.

Rohtas SP M S Dhillon said the village where the posters have been found pasted is remotely located. "We are trying to find out if any suspicious person reached the village during Holi. Villagers are also being quizzed," he said, adding an FIR has been lodged against unknown persons in connection with recovery of posters. "Household computer printer was used to print the posters," the SP said.

Sub divisional police officer, Dehri, Mohammad Anwar Javed Ansari said the police have seized the posters. He, however, suspected it as foul play by some anti-socials to create fear in minds of people. "The police have been asked to be on extra alert in view of recovery of the posters," the SDPO added.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Train blasts accused tried to flee to Iraq, Syria many times - Bharti Jain & Neeraj Chauhan, ToI
Members of the module inspired by the so-called Islamic State behind the Bhopal-Ujjain train blast, led by 'emir' Atif Muzzafar, crisscrossed the country between February 2016 and January 2017 visiting various borders and contacting immigration agents in cities with international airports in search for an opportunity to exit the country and migrate to Iraq/Syria.

After forming a 'core' group of like-minded, IS-influenced youths in Kanpur in February 2016, Atif, along with Danish and Faisal, travelled to Srinagar, Amritsar, Wagah and Jaisalmer, exploring ways to exfiltrate to Pakistan through the land border and contacting travel agents to get a visa to Pakistan.

In Srinagar, they even tried to get local contacts to arrange a meeting with members of a terrorist outfit, who could help them cross over to Pakistan for training and subsequent migration to Iraq/Syria to join IS.

When the efforts failed, they decided to take a bus to Amritsar. However, they could not get local travel agents there to secure a Pakistan visa.

They also went to Wagah to illegally cross over to Pakistan, but in vain. Their next attempt took them to Jaisalmer.

After returning to Delhi from Amritsar, they took a train to Jodhpur and then reached Jaisalmer by bus. They took a hotel room at the fort and went around enquiring about ways to cross over.

But the idea was dropped after they learnt of the heavy deployment at the border. While Saif and Faisal returned to Kanpur, Atif, determined to migrate to territories occupied by IS, left for Mumbai via Udaipur-Ahmedabad by bus.

However, after failing to get an employment visa for Saudi Arabia through a placement agency, he too returned to Kanpur in March 2016.

Three months later in June-July 2016, Atif and Gaush Mohd Khan, the ex-IAF personnel in the module, went to Kolkata to attempt an entry into Bangladesh for further journey to Iraq/Syria.

The module's latest attempt to emigrate was as late as in January this year, when Atif, Saifullah (killed in the Lucknow encounter) and Danish visited Kozhikode to explore possibilities of meeting an IS contact in Kerala, who would help them cross over to Iraq/Syria.

When nothing worked, they tried setting up base in the jungles of Panna in Madhya Pradesh but returned to Bhopal after two days and then headed back to Lucknow.

In July 2016, after their attempts to exit the country and join IS failed, Atif was appointed 'emir' of the module and he and 8 others took oath of allegiance to IS at his plot on the Unnao highway near Kanpur. The module decided to procure arms and explosives to wage war in support of IS in India. Keen on railway sabotage, the module extensively studied maps and rail network to select targets. Gaush Mohammad Khan, suspected to be an ISI mole, advised them on derailment.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by ramana »

Sachin wrote:
jamwal wrote:In 2008, when four youths from Kerala were killed in an encounter in Kashmir while allegedly trying to cross over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for training, one of them was Muhammed Yasin, a Christian who had recently converted to Islam
Add to this, the fact that around 21 Muslims from Kerala have joined ISIS and now "on duty" at Afghanistan. One of them was sent to meet his 72 houris by a US drone. And in this group too there are at least three people who were new converts (1 Hindu Girl & 2 Christian boys). So the 100% literate "socialist-secular-republic" of Kerala is actually a hot bed of Islamic terrorism.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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IS claims Friday’s Dhaka airport ‘suicide attack’
The Islamic State (IS) has taken responsibility for a blast in front of a police box at the entrance to Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport, describing it as a “suicide attack.”

Terrorism monitoring group SITE Intelligence tweeted that the militant group’s mouthpiece Amaq news agency reported the “suicide bombing” in the Bangladesh capital near the airport on Friday night, in which the bomber was killed.

“For the 2nd time in one week, #ISIS claimed a suicide bombing in the #Bangladesh capital #Dhaka, the latest targeting a police checkpoint,” SITE said in another Twitter message.

Dhaka police rule out suicide attack

An airport police officer had initially said it was a “suicide attack,” but Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) later ruled it out as an attack of that nature, Bdnews24 reported.

DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia said that it was suspected that the man was carrying a bomb in the bag.

He declined to comment on whether militants were involved in the blast, which occurred a week after what the law-enforcing agencies said was a suicide attack on a RAB camp in nearby Ashkona.
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Bangladesh launches military operation at suspected militant den - PTI
Bangladeshi commandos on Saturday launched a military operation to flush out militants belonging to an Islamist group behind the country’s worst terror attack from a building amid fears that several residents were trapped inside.

The operation was launched after a 48-hour siege by security forces failed to drive them out of a five-storey building in Sylhet
, a northwestern city.

Officials and witnesses said army para-commandos led by a Major General launched the crackdown assisted by police’s Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) unit, counter terrorism unit and elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

“GOC (general officer commanding) of our Sylhet-based 17 Infantry Division Major General Anwarul Momen is leading the ‘Operation Twilight’ there,” a military spokesman told PTI.

TV channels were barred from live coverage of the operation.

A ‘whole lot of them’ there

Earlier reports had said at least two suspected militants, including a woman, were inside the building, but a police officer later feared a “whole lot of them” could be there.

Police said militants are believed to be the operatives of neo-Jamaatun Mujahideen Bangladesh (neo-JMB).

The neo-JMB, said to be inclined towards the Islamic State, was behind the July 1 terror attack on a Dhaka cafe
in which 22 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed.

28 families trapped in building

Officials said at least 28 families were trapped inside the building.

Some 70 people could be evacuated ahead of the full scale military assault. The police used megaphones to ask militants to surrender before launching the operation.

Military put barricades on adjacent thoroughfares, including on a regional highway, as joint forces took position to storm the militant hideout. Authorities overnight cut off the gas and power lines to the building.

Police asked the people in the neighbourhood to stay indoors.

The Operation Twilight was launched after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the international airport in Dhaka in an attack claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

Post by Rishi Verma »

"Islamic state", and even the name of this thread are confusing. iS, LeT, Owaisi, Zakir Nail, Lal Topi, ISI, LET, Al Queda, TTP, Harkat Mujahuddin, local Fatwa Mullah, all are different limbs of a same poisonous tree called Islam. The thread should be called "Islamic Terrorism" thread. Plain and Zimble wonlee.
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NIA files chargesheets against IS module in India - Neeraj chauhan, ToI
The National Investigation Agency has filed two separate chargesheets against IS suspects working in Tamil Nadu-Kerala module.

The first chargesheet is against Tamil Nadu-based Subahani Haja Moideen, the second Indian to have fought alongside the so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Kalyan-based Areeb Majeed was the first Indian. The second chargesheet has been filed against seven Kerala ISIS module members.

As first reported by TOI, Moideen had met the 2015 Paris attacker, Omar Ismail Mostefei, several times in Mosul and was trained by a French national - Abu Suleiman Al-Francisi, who could be Abdelhamid Abouud, mastermind of Paris attacks.

Moideen was also best friends with Pakistani national Mohammad Ghani Usman, a bomb making expert of Lashkar-e-Toiba, who was arrested by the Austrian authorities near Salzburg in December and later charged for Paris attacks conspiracy by French police.

The Kerala ISIS module members planned major attacks on RSS leaders, senior Kochi HC judges, politicians and foreigners last year under a banner called Ansarul Khilafa and leadership of Shajeer Mangalessary (who is said to be based in Afghanistan now).

The IS members, sources said, had prepared a list of at least eight RSS office-bearers and Kerala HC judges.

The NIA had arrested six members of the module from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. They were identified as Manseed Mehmood alias Omar al Hindi of Kannur, Abu Basheer alias Rashid from Coimbatore, Swalih Mohammed T alias Yousuf from Thrissur, Safwan P from Mallapuram, Jasim N K and Ramshad Nageelan Kan diyil alias Aaamu from Kozhikode. Their group leader, Shajeer, is said to be in Afghanistan.
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Re: The Islamic State and the Indian Sub-Continent

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Rishi Verma wrote:"Islamic state", and even the name of this thread are confusing. iS, LeT, Owaisi, Zakir Nail, Lal Topi, ISI, LET, Al Queda, TTP, Harkat Mujahuddin, local Fatwa Mullah, all are different limbs of a same poisonous tree called Islam. The thread should be called "Islamic Terrorism" thread. Plain and Zimble wonlee.

We used to take that umbrella approach and found it not helpful.
This way we get granularity.
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ISIS module in Ujjain train blast made failed bid to target PM rally: NIA - PTI
The ISIS-inspired terror module, allegedly involved in the Ujjain train blast, had made a failed bid to carry out an explosion at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Lucknow on Dussehra last year, according to NIA probe reports.

According to the reports of interrogation of Mohammed Danish and Atif Muzzafar accessed today, the duo, along with other friends owing allegiance to the banned ISIS, had planned to plant a bomb at Ramleela ground in Lucknow where the prime minister was scheduled to address a rally on October 17 last year.

The duo is currently in the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The group, says Danish in his statement, was desperate to carry out blasts to "test the level of radicalisation" and in the process had made several unsuccessful attempts at planting bombs at various places.


He alleged that Atif Muzzafar, who was the self- designated 'Amir' (chief) of the module, assembled a bomb using steel pipes besides chandelier bulbs for which he also had extended help.

Atif is among the six person arrested by the NIA after the March 7 blast at a railway track in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

The accused claimed that Atif had procured two packets of splinters (iron ball bearings) from a cycle shop and also carried out a reconnaissance of the venue with another accused identified as just Asif.

Atif, in his statement, corroborated the version of Danish and said they went to buy cracker material from Moolganj in old Kanpur.

Atif said in his statement that he gave the bomb to G M Khan, a retired IAF personnel, who took it to Lucknow on his bike which had a IAF sticker on it.

On October 11, he along with other members of the group went to Lucknow where they purchased a new SIM card and called Khan so that the bomb could be placed in or around the venue.

Before Dusherra night, according to Danish, Atif readied the bomb and switched on the timer and kept it in garbage bin near the venue of the rally.

The ISIS-inspired module was eagerly waiting for news of a blast which never came, according to the reports.

After two days, Atif went to the spot to check the fate of bomb but could find only a few wires which he had used in the crude bomb, Danish said in his statement.

Giving other details, Danish told the interrogators that Atif had learnt assembling of bombs from 'Inspire', an Internet magazine which is reportedly unloaded by a group affiliated to banned al-Qaeda.
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Interesting details of this Kanpur module of ISIS.

So what really happened to the 'bomb' in Lucknow rally?

Did G.M. Khan place it and how did it end up with only a few wires!!!

NIA should have a comprehensive report rather than these dribs.
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India and Malaysia to fight IS together: Najib Razak - Kallol Bhattacherjee, The Hindu
India and Malaysia on Saturday agreed to cooperate to defeat Islamic State militants and the growing threat of radicalisation and extremism. Visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak held talks here with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sealed six agreements, while extending support to India for a greater role in the maritime security of the Asia-Pacific region.

“Malaysia and India will cooperate to fight the IS [Islamic State] and deal with radicalisation. We will also share our experience of de-radicalisation with India. We plan to hold a major conference on de-radicalisation jointly,” Prime Minister Razak said during his statement to the media at Hyderabad House, explaining that India and Malaysia ties are at a “historic high”.

Greater synergy

Mr. Razak, who spent a day in Chennai upon his arrival in the country on Thursday, expressed support for greater synergy with India on the security front, especially in the maritime domain, and said, “We appreciate the greater role of India in the maritime security of the Asia-Pacific region.” The visiting delegation’s comments on the maritime issue is significant as both the countries have been demanding freedom of navigation in the South East Asian region, where China has been flexing muscles and has claimed most of the South China Sea.

The visiting dignitary’s comments about greater cooperation to fight the extremism of the IS followed the exchange of six bilateral agreements.
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High alert in Maharashtra as intelligence inputs warn about ISIS attack on Mumbai - ToI
A high alert has been sounded in the state after the police claimed to have received an intelligence input about Islamic State members trying to enter Mumbai via sea. A source said that nine suspects, who hail from Assam, are likely to target Mumbai.

While coast guard officials denied sending any such information, Mumbai police officials refused to reveal the source of the intel. Officials said the alert was routine. Police officials, including those from the crime branch, are checking lodges and budget hotels. "Officials have been asked to conduct late-night nakabandis," said the source.
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US unleashes 'mother of all bombs' for first time in Afghanistan - Agencies
The United States dropped "the mother of all bombs," the largest non-nuclear device it has ever unleashed in combat, on a network of caves and tunnels used by Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, the military said.

The strike occurred at 7:32 pm (1502 GMT).


US President Donald Trump touted the bombing as evidence of a more muscular US foreign policy since he took office in January after eight years of President Barack Obama.

The 21,600 pound (9,797 kg) GBU-43 bomb was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

The GBU-43, also known as the "mother of all bombs," is a GPS-guided munition and was first tested in March 2003. It is regarded as particularly effective against clusters of targets on or just underneath the ground.

It was the first time the United States has used this size of conventional bomb in a conflict.

Trump described the bombing as a "very successful mission." It was not immediately clear how much damage the device did.

During last year's presidential election campaign, Trump vowed to give priority to destroying Islamic State, which operates mostly in Syria and Iraq. He flexed US military muscles last week by ordering a cruise missile attack on a Syrian government airbase in retaliation for a poison gas attack.

"It was really another successful job, we are very proud of our military. We are so proud of our military, it was another successful event," Trump told reporters at the White House

"Everybody knows exactly what happened, what I do is I authorise our military. We have the greatest military in the world, they've done a job, as usual, so we have given them total authorisation and that's what they're doing, and frankly, that's why they've been so successful lately," he said.

"If you look at what's happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what's happened over the last eight years, you'll see that there's a tremendous difference," Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

The security situation remains precarious in Afghanistan, with a number of militant groups trying to claim territory more than 15 years after the US invasion which toppled the Taliban government.

So far, Trump has offered little clarity about a broader strategy for Afghanistan, where some 8,400 US troops remain.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the bombing "targeted a system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters used to move around freely, making it easier for them to target US military advisers and Afghan forces in the area."

Spicer described it as "a large, powerful and accurately delivered weapon." US forces took "all precautions necessary to prevent civilian casualties and collateral damage," he said.

Foreign policy experts said that it appeared the use of such a specialized weapon had more to do with the type of target -- tunnels -- than the United States sending any message to other countries by using such a powerful weapon.

"This is a very specialized weapon, we don't have very many of them, you can only use them in a very narrow set of circumstances," said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.


Cancian added that while sending a message to Syria or North Korea could have been among the secondary factors considered, they would not have been the main reason for using this type of weapon.

The top US commander in Afghanistan said recently that he needed several thousand more international troops in order to break a stalemate in the long war with Taliban insurgents.

US officials say intelligence suggests Islamic State is based overwhelmingly in Nangarhar and neighboring Kunar province.

Estimates of its strength in Afghanistan vary. US officials have said they believe the movement has only 700 fighters but Afghan officials estimate it has about 1,500.

The Afghan Taliban, which is trying to overthrow the US-backed government in Kabul, are fiercely opposed to Islamic State and the two group have clashed as they seek to expand territory and influence.
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