JOIN USInvestigation into the October 2 blast case has seen a further twist, with the West Bengal CID finding that the terrorist module operating out of Khagragarh in Burdwan district was not only planning a strike but also looking to recruit youngsters.
Investigators believe that the module’s primary agenda was to disseminate teachings of jihad. Sources said documents, videos and other materials found from the blast site indicate that the terror operatives were building a network to recruit young men and women, particularly from madrassas, in the region.
“Speeches of Ayman-al-Zawahiri of al-Qaeda, videos of the World Trade Centre attacks and manuals on making bombs, recovered from the blast site, might have been used to recruit people,” said an official.
Officials also believe that while the module was part of a new outfit called Al-Jihad, it is an extension of old organisations like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami, with plans to recruit and train operatives. “We have some evidence to prove that the men behind the blast had been visiting local madrassas to scout for enthusiastic young people. The videos in the seized cellphones might have been used to entice youngsters into joining the cause of jihad,” said one of the investigators.
The state CID has unearthed proof that leaflets recovered from the house at Khagragarh, where the blast took place on October 2, were printed in Bangladesh. The leaflets talk of standing up for “fellow Muslim brothers” in Chechnya and even helping the cause of Islamic State. The blast, which killed two terrorists and injured another, supposedly took place when they were tinkering with an improvised explosive device.