New Delhi: Investigating agencies have uncovered that members of the Faridabad terror module behind the Delhi Red Fort blasts made multiple attempts to connect with Hamas. The probe reveals the group was looking to emulate Hamas’ tactics used in Israel, raising fresh concerns over evolving terror strategies and international linkages.
On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian terror group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel. In this attack, 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals were killed, while 251 people were taken hostage.
An Intelligence Bureau official said that the Hamas attack had become an inspiration for many radicals. During the many conversations that the Faridabad module had, they had spoken about replicating such an attack in India.
While members of this module had studied the pattern of the attack, they needed more support to execute an attack of this nature, an official said. This is the reason they were trying to get in touch with some experts from Hamas to help them build the kind of weapons that were used during the October 7 attack.
Some of the members even had plans of travelling outside India to meet with experts from Hamas. Eventually, the ISI would have facilitated such a meeting, as Hamas members have been frequenting Pakistan and coordinating with the terror groups out there.
However the Hamas was kept busy with Israel, which launched an all-out attack against the terror group. Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, who was part of the Faridabad module, was put in charge of this operation. He was the one who insisted that to perfect a surprise drone attack, they needed to meet with experts from Hamas.
Another official said that they had decided to seek the help of the ISI to facilitate such a meeting. However, before the next move could have been made, the module was busted by the Indian security agencies.
Investigators say that the Faridabad module was not just dangerous, but ambitious as well. They were not planning some run-of-the-mill attack. They wanted to make a huge statement, and the quantity of ammonium nitrate that had been seized from this module is proof of their scale and ambition.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found drone images from Danish’s phone. There were foreign numbers too on his phone, which suggests that he was trying to contact someone to learn more about using the drones to carry out lethal strikes. He was studying gliding rockets and had plans for launching strikes in a range of at least 25 kilometres.
“If they had been successful, they planned on replicating such attacks in various parts of the country,” an NIA official said.
According to a statement by the NIA, Danish is an expert in drone modification. He was providing technical support for carrying out terror attacks. He was also modifying the drones and trying to make rockets, the NIA said.
Danish who was arrested on November 17, had the skills to make small, weaponised drones. He, however, lacked the expertise to make powerful drones fitted with large batteries. He felt that the smaller drones that he could make with ease would not give him the desired effect.
The probe has found that to attack on the scale of what Hamas did, there was a need to make more powerful drones which would be fitted with larger batteries. This would have ensured that the drones could carry heavier bombs along with cameras.
Officials say that to make such drones that could carry heavier bombs, the Faridabad module members would have needed expert support. This explains why, during their discussions, they felt the need to get in touch with experts from Hamas.
Some of the module members were even ready to travel outside the country to meet with these experts and seek their help in making more powerful drones.
They even would have tried to reach out to the ISI to help facilitate such a meeting. However, the module was busted in the nick of time, and a major catastrophe was averted, an official added.
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File photo: Xinhua/IANS
–IANS
