IS terrorist plotting suicide attack against Indian elite detained in Russia: Report

Moscow: Russia’s top intelligence agency said on Monday that it has detained an Islamic State suicide bomber from a Central Asian country who was plotting an attack against a member of India’s leadership elite, Russia’s official media reported.

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the foreign national was recruited by one of the Islamic State’s ringleaders as a suicide bomber sometime between April and June 2022, while in Turkey, the state-owned TASS news agency reported.

“The Federal Security Service has identified and apprehended in Russia a member of the outlawed (by the Russian Federation) Islamic State international militant organization. The detainee is a native of a Central Asian country, who planned to commit a militant attack against a member of India’s ruling circles by blowing himself up,” the FSB reported.

The militant’s “ideological indoctrination was conducted remotely via Telegram messenger accounts and during personal meetings in Istanbul with an IS representative,” the Center for Public Relations reported.

The FSB noted that the militant swore allegiance to the IS Emir (chief), after which he was instructed to leave for Russia, draw up the necessary documents and fly to India to commit this act of terrorism, the report said.

Dreaded terror group ISIS and all its affiliate organisations, responsible for a series of savage attacks and killings in Iraq and Syria, have been banned in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.