Islamic State modules and ‘lone wolf’ attackers in India have been instructed by their handlers to hack their targets, particularly foreign citizens, to death using machetes and big chopping knives.
“We have gathered that IS modules and lone wolves here are being told by their handlers not to risk gathering explosives, assembling IEDs or illegally buying automatic weapons for attacks. Instead, all they need to do is buy big chopping knives or machetes, which would neither raise suspicion nor involve a huge cost,” Times of India quoted a senior intelligence official in its report as saying.
It is believed that the motive of the terror group behind carrying out hacking attacks is to terrorise public even more. Also, it is quite possible that the ISIS fighters may record the hacking incidents and share them online to promote the terror outfit in India.
The first such case of IS-inspired plotting beheadings came to light in July when the West Bengal CID had busted a terror module led by Masiuddin alias Abu Musa and had seized machetes that the members had acquired to attack a family.
Last week, the National Investigation Agency arrested members of the Kerala-Tamil Nadu module last week who revealed that they too had planned to hack foreigners to death in the two southern states.
Similar trend was seen in Bangladesh, where the Dhaka attackers captured the hacking of foreigners during the July 1 hostage situation in Holey Artisan café with their smartphones and later uploaded them on IS’s online forums.
“It has been noticed that IS modules are now largely operating as small, localised groups in different states - particularly Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka. After the NIA busted a pan-India module in January leading to two dozen arrests across northern, southern and western states, IS handlers have been encouraging Indian contacts to work in smaller groups with minimal inter-connectivity. This is to escape surveillance and minimise arrests in case a module is detected,” said a senior intelligence officer.
It is believed that the members of the Kerala-Tamil Nadu module had gathered for a meeting at Kanakamala hilltop in Kannur to discuss plans for acquiring machetes when an NIA team, based on a specific intelligence alert, closed in on them and arrested five people.
