Mumbai: The Mumbai police said it is on alert and prepared to deal with any untoward incident in a response to a recently released Al Qaeda video that talks of orchestrating attacks on Indian cities like Kolkata, Bangalore and New Delhi.
The terror outfit’s video claimed that the attack would ensure that the “Indian establishment comes to its senses and its grip on Kashmir weakens.” The police has already taken precautions to ensure security during the New Year celebrations.
When asked about the surfacing of the video, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Atulchandra Kulkarni said, “Our team always keeps an eye on terror activities and we take all necessary precautions to foil them.”
However, Mumbai police’s spokesperson Deepak Devraj said, “It is a national issue and I cannot comment on it.”
Using Kashmir as a springboard for global jihadi forces, including the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, are looking to target Indian metros, according to security sources. Intelligence agencies are keeping an eye on a possible further outreach by AQIS in urban centres through social media, dark web and encrypted messaging services. Security sources said that such videos are propaganda tools of terror outfits to radicalise and recruit.
On Tuesday, a video of interview of al Qaeda’s subcontinent second-in-command Usama Mehmood is any indication, the terror organisation is now looking beyond the angry Muslim youth of Kashmir to expand in India.
The 42-minute-long interview has been conducted in a closed room with multiple cameras in typical al-Qaeda propaganda. Mehmood, a Pakistani origin man from Islamabad, has been heading the media wing of AQIS for the past few years.
