Indian Mujahideen gets medical doctor as its new chief

The Indian Mujahideen (IM), believed to have carried out most of the bomb blasts in the country in recent years, has a new leader based in Dubai. The rejuvenated group is also planning fidayeen, or suicide, attacks on high-value targets in the country.

The group had become headless after Atif Ameen, also its northern module chief, was killed in the September 2008 Batla House encounter near the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi.

The new leader is Shahnawaj, a doctor by profession, appointed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence in consultation with senior IM leaders, the brothers Iqbal and Riyaz Bhatkal, and the Lashkar-e-Taiba. This information, and also about the fidayeen attacks, was given to intelligence agencies by Salman Ahmed, alias Chotu, a 21-year-old IM operative arrested by the anti-terrorist squad of the UP police on Saturday.

Shahnawaj is the elder brother of Mohammad Saif, who was nabbed by the Delhi police after the encounter on charges of conducting bomb blasts in Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmedabad.

This is not the first time that an IM plan to conduct fidayeen attacks has come to light. According to sources, Ameen, before he was killed in Batla House, was preparing IM operative Shadab Beg for such attacks. The latest strategy involves Riyaz launching the attacks from the Nepal route.

Shahnawaj, who is leading the latest strategy, was recruited by Sadiq Sheikh, now in the custody of the Mumbai police. Sheikh told interrogators he had sent Shahnawaj to Pakistan for training in 2004. Shahnawaj was part of the IM’s top leadership before he fled to Nepal after the encounter.

According to sources, when the encounter took place, Salman and Shahnawaj were in Lucknow and were sharing the same accommodation.

Salman has told intelligence agents that after hearing about the encounter, Shahnawaj and he fled Lucknow for Nepal. They were joined by IM operatives Abu Rashid and Khalid, who, like Salman and Shahnawaj, belong to Azamgarh. After regrouping in Nepal, they made their way to Dubai one by one.

The sources said that from Dubai, Salman left for Karachi to train in handling weapons and explosives. There he met Riyaz and Amir Raza Khan, another IM leader. After his training, Salman went back to Dubai and met Shahnawaj and Iqbal, who instructed him to set up a base in Nepal. Salman arrived in Nepal in January, but was caught before he could start work.