Russia detains IS ‘terrorist’ tasked with suicide attack in India as revenge for ‘insulting Prophet’

The detainee, Azamov Mashahont, is believed to have confessed that he was tasked with 'blowing himself up against one of the representatives of the ruling circles of India'.

Representational image of an ISIS convoy | Twitter | @Intlatm

New Delhi: An ISIS “terrorist”, likely from a Central Asian country, was detained by Russia’s security agency Monday for allegedly planning an attack in India.

Sources in the security establishment told ThePrint that the 1992-born detainee, Azamov Mashahont, confessed that he had been tasked with targeting a representative of the “ruling circle” in India.

In a video released by the Federal Security Service, FSB, of the Russian Federation, Mashahont is purportedly heard saying that he was supposed to take revenge for “insult to the Prophet”.

Asked if Mashahont was referring to suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s controversial remarks about Prophet Muhammad, made during a television news debate in May, a source said “it is not clear”.

A statement issued by the FSB said: “Russia’s FSB identified and detained a member of the Islamic State international terrorist organisation banned in Russia, a native of a country in the Central Asian region, who planned to commit a terrorist act by blowing himself up against one of the representatives of the ruling circles of India.”

“The detained was recruited by one of the IS leaders as a suicide bomber in Turkey,” it added.

The arrest comes days after National Security Adviser Ajit Doval held talks with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev, in Moscow, focussing on bilateral, regional and global issues.

During the visit, Doval also met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and held a discussion on trade and economic ties between the countries, including the peaceful use of outer space.

In the video released by the FSB, the detainee also purportedly says that he was recruited as a “suicide bomber” by an ISIS recruit in Turkey, where he underwent training.

“I flew to Russia, from where I was (supposed) to fly to India. In India, a meeting was scheduled during which I was to receive everything for committing an attack. I was supposed to be given things there to commit a terrorist attack at the behest of the IS for insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” he is heard saying.

(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)