Alleged Indian Mujahideen chief arrested on border with Nepal

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/25/indian-mujahideen-tehseen-akhtar-arrested-border-nepal

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Indian police have detained a 23-year-old accused of being the operational head of the most notorious Islamic militant organisation in the country, officials said.

The arrest of Tehseen Akhtar, said to be the leader of the Indian Mujahideen terrorist network, is the latest in a string of detentions in recent days.

Security agencies have launched rolling operations to prevent attacks on candidates, officials or voters in India's general elections, due to start next month.

RPN Singh, the minister of state for home affairs, called the arrest a "major victory".

"Tehseen is one of the most wanted terrorists in India. It is a huge success in India's war against terror. The Delhi police arrested him along the Indo-Nepal border," Singh said.

Both local and overseas-based militants have launched a series of high-profile attacks in India in recent years including in Mumbai in 2008. But there have been dozens of smaller-scale operations that have not attracted international attention.

The Indian Mujahideen has been accused of many such strikes. The group is also suspected of being behind an attack on a rally by prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi last October that killed six people and wounded more than 80.

Police said the latest arrests were made possible after they gathered information from two Indian Mujahideen militants, including Yasin Bhatkal, a founder of the group, who was arrested last year.

"Their target was a terror strike," SN Srivastava, a police official in New Delhi, told a news conference on Sunday.

He declined to comment when asked if Modi was being targeted, saying further investigation was needed.

"Any important event, including elections, could be targeted," Srivastava said.

Some analysts say that the label "Indian Mujahideen" is misleading as it suggests an organised group instead of a shifting network of fragmented small cells, few of which are in contact.

Sameer Patil, associate national security fellow at Gateway House, an Indian thinktank, hailed the arrests as a " major breakthrough".

"There is a need to move quickly to neutralise the support network of the Indian Mujahideen, including the fundraising network which has allowed it to thrive, the training activities and the access to infrastructure locally. There is also a need to improve intelligence-sharing," Patil said.

Akhtar, who officials say is an expert bombmaker, is from a poor part of the northern state of Bihar.

Top of India's wanted list is Dawood Ibrahim, blamed for massive bombings in Mumbai in 1993 and widely reported to be living in Pakistan. Next are Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, who are seen as the overall leaders of the Indian Mujahideen network.