A report from the United States of America has termed Ilyas Kashmiri as the next Osama Bin Laden. Although the US has expressed concerns over this man since quite sometime, Indian agencies say that he is a bigger headache for India.
Kashmiri who was a commander with the Pakistan army had been specifically moved to the rogue outfits. Everything was hunky dory before he was asked to join the JeM which he was opposed to. The ISI and he fell out for a brief while and Kashmiri who had joined the Al-Qaeda’a 313 brigade decided to fight the NATO troupes in Afghanistan. Over a period of time he patched up with the ISI and he even trained the gunmen who carried out the 26/11 attack. However later Kashmiri claimed that it was originally a plan of the Al-Qaeda which was hijacked by the Lashkar.
Today Kashmiri works in tandem with both the Al-Qaeda and also the Bangladesh based Harkat-ul-Jihadi. The problem for the Indian agencies is not his association with the Al-Qaeda or its 313 brigade. Kashmiri was always seen as a headache for the US. However now what Indian agencies notice is his sudden interest in India and it appears that he will continue to focus on that angle.
After the 26/11 attack, Kashmiri felt a bit let down and in many places he had mentioned that his idea was hijacked. However this did not deter him and he continued to show keen interest in India. Today according to Indian intelligence agencies, Kashmiri is planning an attack on India on a very large scale. In fact he had kept in touch with David Headley for a long time when the 26/11 operations were on. It is said that Kashmiri had been given a lot of information regarding targets in Delhi and Pune by Headley when had visited the country once after the 26/11 attack. Kashmiri has been collecting all this data and in addition to this roping in several cadres from Kerala to carry out his operation which he has termed as Ghazb-e-Hind which means war on India.
IB sources tell rediff.com that Kashmiri has roped in nearly 150 cadres from different parts of India and they continue to train with him for this massive operation. Sources in the NIA who interrogated Headley also pointed out that during the questioning in the US, the man too had spoken in length about Kashmiri and how he was planning to wage a full fledged battle on India. We have collected a lot of information on the Kashmiri angle and have tipped off both the IB and the police officials of the respective states to remain on alert against the designs of this man.
The IB says that he first wanted to carry out an attack during the Common Wealth Games and had even trained his cadres by the Mangla dam near Islamabad the same place where he carried out the training of the 26/11 terrorists. However this plan was scrapped due to enhanced security during the games.
Armed with the combating skills of the 313 brigade and the logistic and intelligence support of the HuJI, Kashmiri is turning out to be more dangerous to India than a Lakhvi or a Sayeed, the IB says. He has survived the onslaught by the US in Afghanistan and he has returned with a greater resolve and this makes him a man to watch out for for Indian security agencies, intelligence bureau sources say.
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