Oct 13, 2010

The Indian Mujahideen – Lashkar E Taiyyaba Nexus

The Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) highlighted Lashker-e-Toiba-Indian Mujahideen (LeT-IM) footprint in the German Bakery bomb attack in Pune in February 2010. The arrest of Himayat Baig and Bilal from the Marathwada region part of the Aurangabad module of the Indian Mujahideen with links with the LeT were revealed by the ATS Chief Mr Maria in Mumbai. “The Pune investigations took us to Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Daman and New Delhi,” the ATS chief said. “They have carried out recce of some sites for LeT. The conspiracy was hatched in January at Udgir in Latur district. Himayat Baig used to run Global Internet Cafe in Udgir where explosives were brought, bombs made and some targets were decided. German Bakery was one of them.”

            It is obvious from the current level of investigations and revelations in the Pune blast case that there is a link between the LeT and the Indian Mujahideen a group morphed from the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and thus is dangerous from the point of view of luring Muslim youth into the terror fold. The network that has been established covering a number of states such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Daman and New Delhi would indicate that the spread of the group has been over a large expanse and the ability of the group to strike would be evidently spread over the hinterland and thus some more activities cannot be ruled out given that there are many sleeper cells that may have been created and which have not been very active over the past few months but which may prop up. Thus the spread of the network and the level of activity would remain a key concern.

            The shoot out in Jama Masjid in Delhi on 19 September also created an alarm with a threat to disrupt the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.  The low level but daring attack in which two foreigners were injured indicates that the police have not been able to neutralize terror cells of the grouping which continues to be active in the larger metros as Delhi. An Email which followed the attack was traced to Navi Mumbai and could be attributable to the Indian Mujahideen, however more investigations are necessary. The police attempt to downplay the incident was evident with the spokesperson saying that the email’s language did not sound like the Indian Mujahideen’s, however since the email came just a short period after the strike, it would not have been an improvisation per se. Proactive actions to track terror groups would be necessary to prevent such attacks even though the damage may have been limited.

OCT 2010