IS Threat at Our Door?

The uncovering of an IS-affiliated module in Hyderabad just days before the attacks on Dhaka is a chilling reminder of the threat from Islamic State

- Amarnath K. Menon and Sandeep Unnithan

Late into the night of June 29, a joint task force of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Telangana police pic ked up 11 youths in Hyderabad. Five were arrested the next day, following raids at 10 places in the city that rapidly unravelled the Islamic State’s (IS) deadly new gameplan.

The IS-affiliated module planned to set off a series of improvised explosive devices (IED) blasts across the city. It was a macabre plot that exceeded previous attempts by Islamist militants to cause mayhem in the city.

IS is not in India yet, at least not in the manner of previous groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which infiltrated, recruited and set up modules to carry out attacks across the subcontinent. It has worked to win recruits through social media. Until recently, its efforts focused on luring potential recruits to travel and fight in territories under its control in Iraq and Syria. A majority of the 49 arrests made by Indian security agencies over the past two years 25 by the NIA and 24 by state police in Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu were of IS-inspired radicals either recruiting others or attempting to travel to Turkey, the crossover point into IS territory. The threat might have seemed distant at the time. Areeb Majeed, a Thane based civil engineer who returned from a stint as an IS fighter, was the only survivor of a group of four students who migrated to IS territories. He was arrested by the NIA and is now facing trial in Thane.