Indian intelligence officials have asked their Russian as well as Uzbek counterparts to grant them access to an Islamic State (IS, banned in Russia) militant detained by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) who was planning an attack on a member of India's ruling circles. This was reported on Wednesday by the Hindustan Times newspaper.
According to the newspaper, the detainee is a citizen of Uzbekistan. Indian intelligence agencies are in contact with both Russian and Uzbek colleagues to study the possibility of handing over the terrorist Azamov for interrogation specifically related to the terrorist act being prepared in India, the newspaper said.
Hindustan Times also notes that "Indian intelligence agencies have asked the Russian Federal Security Service to share a report on Azamov's interrogation in order to identify a local IS cell that was to provide him with weapons." Given India's close interagency ties with both Russian and Uzbek agencies, there is a good chance that the Indian side of the plot will soon be uncovered, the paper believes.
The newspaper reported that India's intelligence agencies received a warning in June from their foreign counterparts that radical Islamists intended to carry out a terrorist attack in India "for insulting the Prophet Muhammad." As Hindustan Times noted, since India has tightened visa controls for some countries, including Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey and the Central Asian republics, the suicide bomber chose a route through Moscow.
On Monday, Russia's FSB Public Relations Center reported that the FSB had identified and detained a member of the Islamic State, originally from a Central Asian country, who was planning to carry out a suicide bombing attack against a member of India's ruling circles. The detainee admitted that he was preparing a crime in India for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
The Times Now television channel, citing sources on Tuesday, reported that New Delhi would send a team of its intelligence and foreign intelligence experts to Russia in connection with the detention of the militant.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Ville Miettinen/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS