New Delhi: After Kashmir, the next target of Al Qaeda is Assam as according to the latest intelligence report compiled by India's intelligence agencies, Al Qaeda in the India Sub-Continent (AQIS), Al Qaeda's newest regional branch, has already come to an understanding with Bangladesh based Islamic terror outfit Jamat ul Mujahedeen to carry out terror activities in India.
"AQIS' strategy behind this tactical understanding is that the organisation want to utilise Assam as their base point to carry out subversive activities in Eastern India," a senior intelligence official told ETV Bharat in New Delhi on Monday. What has further aggravated the situation is the fact that the terror outfits with their sleeper cells and sympathisers present in some pockets of the northeast have already started a massive recruitment drive in selected belts in Assam and even Tripura.
"Due to their close proximity to the Bangladesh border, both Assam and Tripura have become soft targets for Islamist terror outfits," the official said. On a few earlier occasions, security agencies in Assam apprehended Jamat ul Mujahedeen activists and members of other terror groups. "There are some pockets in Assam like Barpeta, Dhubri, Goalpara etc where the terrorist organizations find it easy to lure the gullible youth," the official said.
The terror organisations, according to the intelligence official, have been utilising some of the incidents that took place in both the states in the recent past to radicalise youths. It may be mentioned here that an eviction drive that took place in Assam's Dareang district in September last year raised a massive controversy with minority organisations accusing the BJP led Assam government of targeting a "selected community."
Similarly, in the month of December, the vandalization of "mosques" in Tripura allegedly by right-wing activists also raised a huge controversy. "These are the same instances which are tactically used by anti-India activists to radicalise youths in the country," the official said. AQIS founded in 2014 operates from Kashmir, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Burma, and Bangladesh to wage jihad and establish an Islamic state.
It is worth mentioning that another Islamist terror outfit named Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) commonly known as Ansar Bangla based in Bangladesh has also found Assam's Barpeta district as a soft target to make their presence. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday carried out search operations in different districts including Barpeta and Bongaigaon to trace ABT chief Saiful Islam who is reportedly hiding in Assam at present.
"Saiful had entered India illegally and was working as an Arabic teacher at Dhakaliapara Masjid. He was actively motivating youths to join Jihadi outfits and carry out subversive activities," an NIA official said. "Whether it is Jamaat ul Mujahedeen or Ansarullah Bangla Team, Al Qaeda has been trying to rope in all Islamist terror outfits in the Indian subcontinent to come together for a united fight," the intelligence official said.
Also read: Tripura cops nab three youths for alleged links with Bangladesh terrorist outfit
