'IS men' wanted to target Haridwar Ardh Kumbh

NEW DELHI: Five suspected operatives of Islamic State (IS) had planned a terror attack at the Ardh Kumbh Mela held earlier this year in Haridwar. All of them were tutored by their handler in Syria on how to make IEDs by using explosive material extracted from match sticks.
NIA made these revelation in its chargesheet against the six terrorists submitted in a special court on Monday.
The recovery of 65 gms of match powder helped NIA in establishing the link between the operatives and their handler in Syria. The terrorists were also plotting terror attacks at strategic locations in Delhi. NIA told the court that huge amount of inflammatory literature and videos of hate speeches by Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar and some controversial Muslim clerics were also recovered from the operatives.
NIA made these submissions in its chargesheet against Akhlakur Rehman, Md. Azeemushan, Md. Meraj, Md.Osama, Mohsin Ibrahim Sayyed and Yusuf Al-Hindi under Section 120 (conspiracy) of IPC and Sections 18 and 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). District judge Amar Nath has fixed August 25 for consideration of the chargesheet.
NIA said Azeemushan and Osama had carried out a recce of Har ki Pauri in Haridwar on January 18, 2016, on the instructions of co-accused Yusuf AlHindi, who is absconding and is believed to be a IS handler in Syria. The remaining five accused are lodged in Tihar jail.
“Incriminating pictures of slain ISIS terrorists...and videos of bomb making...explaining the method of preparing IED with the help of matchsticks and firecrackers...were retrieved from the accused...,“ the chargesheet said. NIA claimed the accused were learning bomb-making techniques from Syria-based IS operatives through social networking platforms, including Trillian, WhatsApp and Facebook.
“Their indoctrination was possible because of the use of various social media communications platform,“ stated the chargesheet, while giving details of usage of several messaging apps by the accused. NIA said the operatives were in “constant“ touch with each other through social media platforms.
Rehman used Trillian with the ID, “wafabhai 7861“, for chatting with Yosuf-Al-Hindi, who was available on the same platform with the ID “gummnambhai“. Rehman received a link on his Trillian ID regarding “bomb banana ka asan tariqa“ (easy steps to make bombs) from Yusuf-Al-Hindi, the agency said.
“In compliance of the directions of Yusuf“, the accused collected explosives (match stick heads), the NIA said. It added that Osama had purchased match sticks from Shamim provision store on Laksar road in Haridwar district. The conspiracy was hatched at Landhaura near Haridwar in January 2016.