25 terrorists may target Delhi as part of a ‘big plan', say intel inputs

NEW DELHI: Intelligence inputs indicate around 25 hardcore terrorists trained by the Pakistan Army’s special service group are likely to try to infiltrate in the next fortnight as part of a big plan hatched jointly by the Taliban-JeM leadership in Afghanistan.
Sources say that a few of the highly trained operatives have been tasked to target three senior politicians and places of religious significance in Delhi while the rest will attempt to carry out terror strike actions in Jammu&Kashmir. The group, comprising mujahideens specialising in VB-IED and long-range weaponry, will split into two after leaving the launchpad and cross over somewhere through the Indo-Nepal border and international border, the alert states.

The input, released a few days ago, states that the exact infiltration point and probable dates are currently not available and all state police forces concerned have been asked to step up vigil. The latest developments are being seen by intelligence officials as part of a long-term plan hatched by ISI and Taliban towards the end of 2018 and beginning of 2019.

Official recall two multi-party meetings held in Pakistan and Afghanistan during this time which was attended by the leadership of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Taliban and the Haqqani network. The presence of leaders from the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) was also noted at these gatherings which was organised by a major-rank officer of the ISI and a senior Taliban leader.

Post this meeting, sources said, around 100 operatives were hand-picked by a covert unit called ‘SSO’ and trained at camps located in Muzaffarabad, Kotli, Laka-e-Gair in POK. They were specially taken to Afghanistan to be trained in assembling vehicle-borne IEDs aka car bombs. Intelligence officials suspect that this batch of terrorists having such specialisations are the same recruits. Efforts are being made to establish their identities.