ISI's 'medical tourism' alarms security agencies

A botched terror test-run in New Delhi has left security agencies alarmed about a new ISI-backed module whose operatives were able to infiltrate the national Capital, posing as Afghan medical tourists, intelligence sources disclosed to India Today.

The mastermind of the failed terror bid in December last was Maulana Abdul Rehman, better known as MAR in Jehadi circles, highly-placed sources revealed. He is believed to be a plotter of the 1999 hijacking of the Indian Airlines IC 814 flight from Nepal to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Rehman has now fallen out with Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of the Jaish-e-Mohammad group and one of the three terrorists India freed to secure the release of the IC-814 passengers in 1999.

Backed by Pakistans ISI and the Haqqani network, Rehman launched his first terror attempt on India in November when he sent in two of his men to target five locations in Delhi with chemical bombs, according to intelligence officials.

Medical Tourism

The two infiltrators - identified as Pakistani Ahmed Khan Durrani and Afghan Abdul Qadri - used the medical-tourism method to arrive in New Delhi. Durrani posed as an Afghan patient and Qadri his attendant, the officials explained.

Durrani had a forged passport issued in the name of Sohaib Abbas.

They chose a Lajpat Nagar neighbourhood, popular with Afghan medical tourists, to rent a room with the help of a local Afghan contact. Their Delhi address - M-3, Kasturba Niketan Complex, Lajpat Nagar-II - passed police verification in the last week of November, a copy of which was obtained by India Today.

Durrani had undergone a training in making chemical bombs. When triggered, such explosives produce a high-intensity fire capable of causing substantial damage within five to six minutes.

Copy of their Delhi address proof - M-3, Kasturba Niketan Complex, Lajpat Nagar-II - which passed police verification.

The duo remained in contact with their handler, identified as Abid, who had set up a controlroom in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa area of Pakistan-Afghan border.

Terror targets

They different locations of Delhi. On their hit list were the Iskcon temple, a plush mall and three other targets, according to security officials.

The two bought bomb-making materials, such as fireworks for gunpowder, wires, bottles and watches, from Old Delhi markets. From that, they were able to make six chemical bombs that they were to use in serial attacks planned for the second week of December, sources said.

Terror Trail

But a test then went awry. The two men panicked after a bomb they tried to detonate in the bathroom of their room set of huge trail of smoke out of their building.

Scared, they flushed all their devices and fled to Afghanistan on the next flight available, according to intelligence sources.

After investigators unearthed the terror plan, intelligence agencies put the police in Kabul on alert, who then arrested Durrani and Qadri. Explosives and secret documents were recovered from their possession. Indian Intelligence officials, however, describe the entire modus operandi as alarming, with a new module using a new route of medical tourism to strike India.

MAR has an office in Peshawar and heads an organisation called Al Barkat Trust, security officials say. His trust runs a new group named Jaish-ul-Haq. His secondin-command is identified as Dr Zubair. MAR has a syndicate of terrorist who are recruiting and training for anti-India operations, intelligence officials say.

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