New Delhi: In a huge catch for Indian authorities, two suspected al-Qaeda operatives have been arrested from Delhi and Cuttack in Odisha. One suspected aL-Qaeda operative has been identified as Mohammad Asif and he has been arrested in Delhi while the other suspect, aprehended in Cuttack, has been identified as Mohammad Abdul Rehman.
Sources say Asif is linked to al-Qaeda's subcontinent wing. He was allegedly present at the grand shura of al-Qaeda in the Afghanisatan-Pakistan region when the terror group's Indian subcontinent wing was established.
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri was reportedly present at the grand shura. Asif returned to India to develop and establish the terror groups.
On the other hand Rehman is suspected to have links in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, United Kingdon and Pakistan. His brother was arrested in the 2001 American consulate attack in Kolkata.
Asif's interrogation helped investigators to establish the identity of Mulana Asim Umar, the self proclaimed emir of al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). Umar emigrated from India in 1995 and joined terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
In September 2014 Ayaman al-Zawarhi established AQIS and put out his plans on social media. Asif para dubbed Zawarhi's speech in Hindi and Urdu.
His interrogation also revealed that he was motivated to join the group through social media. A few other uyoungsters from his village had fled to Pakistan and joined terror outfits.
In 2012 he got in touch with Umar who convinced him to come to Pakistan. Asif got two more men with him and the finance was arranged by Umar.
They applied for visa to do ziyarat at Ayatollah Khomaini's graveyard in Iran.
On June 23, 2013 they went from New Delhi to Tehran and through contacts they travelled to the interiors of Iran, Zahedan and then to Sarwan on Iran-Pakistan border. From there they reached Quetta in Pakistan.
Asif was also trained in weapons along with two men who had fled with him. During his interrigation he also claimed that a US drone strike killed Teherik-e-Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsood.
Sometime in September 2014, Umar alias Sanaul told him that Zawarhi's son-in-law along with the grand council of al-Qaeda will be meeting to anoint an emir of newly found AQIS.
Few days later surprisingly Indian Mujahideen founder chief Raiz Bhatkal along with Bada Sajid, another IM fugitive who was recently killed in Syria, came to pay respect to the AQIS chief.
The two men, who came with Asif, are still in the Afghanisatn-Pakistan region. Asif left for India through the same route but was caught by Iranian authorities. But al-Qaeda contacts helped him to escape. He went to Turkey where he met members of Uighur al-Qaeda group.
Since his visa had long expired, he told the Indian Embassy that he lost his passport and got an emergency certificate to reach India.
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