India unit chief in Syria directed ISIS terror plot

The operations of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, who were arrested on Friday and Saturday, were directed by the chief of the “Warriors of the Caliph in India”, Shafi Armar, alias Yousuf, who is waging war for the terror group in Syria. Yousuf passed on instructions to the three terror commanders, including Mohammed Nafees Khan of Tolichowki, arrested in Hyderabad, and elsewhere in the country.

Yousuf is among the top three leaders of “Janood ul Khalifa e Hind (Army of the Caliph of India)”, the Indian arm of ISIS. Yousuf had a brother, Sultan Armar, who died in Syria along with Adilabad Mancherial resident Waseem in March 2015.

Top sources in the police said that Nafees Khan had left his job recently to become full-time chief of the terror group in Hyderabad and took the alias of Abu Zarrar Nafees had prepared the suspects to take part in a training camp in a forest in Karnataka.

Apart from carrying out terror attacks, their aim was to secure the release of Indian Mujahideen former operative Yasin Bhatkal by carrying out a jail attack.

Bhatkal had claimed that he would be released from jail by ISIS. The police now believes that he was banking on the Armar brothers and their network in India.

A top intelligence official said, “Nafees Khan is the key man behind procuring explosive substances like ammonium nitrate, gun-powder, nuts and bolts, pipes, jihadi literature and also organising the three suspects who were arrested from the city. He was the de facto head of ISIS in the city.”

The officer said Nafees Khan, who is married and has children, was in touch with Mumbai handler Mudabbir Mushtaq who is the Indian head of the group. There is another suspect from Uttar Pradesh who has an important place in the hierarchy. Nafees Khan came in touch with Mudabbir and Yousuf online.

Mudabbir, 33, a software engineer, took the name of Abu Musab, after Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, who is credited with starting ISIS.

The police said Nafees Khan received funds for terror operations in the city from Mudabbir. Yousuf is believed to have fled to Syria and he was involved in several blasts prior to 2013 and was named in an NIA chargesheet. Yousuf radicalised all the 13 youth, including the four from Hyderabad, online, the police said.

“Yousuf, alias Shafi Armar, was recruiting several youth from India and Hyderabad was a potential recruitment ground,” said an intelligence officer.

The suspects were in touch with Yousuf for one to two years. After the death of Sultan, Shafi took the name Yousuf and took over the Ansar ul Tawhid, an offshoot of the Indian Mujahideen, and joined ISIS.

Sultan Armar figures in the Dilsukhnagar bomb blast chargesheet where he chatted with Yasin Bhatkal, who is accused No. 5 in the Hyderabad twin blast case.

The NIA, in its Dilsukhnagar chargesheet, said Sultan met all the accused of the twin blasts and was closely associated with Yasin Bhatkal.

From July 22, 2013 till August 26, Yasin Bhatkal chatted with Sultan on the ID farafe546@yahoo.com. Yasin was arrested and was lodged in Cherlapally jail. Intelligence agencies said several absconding terror suspects of the IM have joined ISIS.