Ilyas Kashmiri emerging as new Osama bin-Laden: US agencies

Considered the 'world's most wanted man' by counter terrorism organisations across three continents, the 40-year-old Kashmiri, is seen as a terror successor to Osama Bin Laden, CNN reported quoting top US intelligence officials.

The US TV network said the bearded man, who sports aviator style dark glasses is now masterminding Mumbai style attacks in Europe and US, and threat of these attacks has not subsided despite leakages of the plot, CNN reported.

"He (Kashmiri) may be determined to go ahead with the execution of the plots in spite of leaks and heightened vigil," the network said quoting August Hanning, a former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service.

Kashmiri brands India as his enemy number one and his group Harkat-ul-Jehad-Islami was suspected to be behind bombing of a popular bakery in Pune in 2009. But he has made it public that he has ambitions beyond south Asia, CNN said.

Born in Mirpur in the PoK, Kashmiri was once considered to be run by the Pakistan's military intelligence ISI, but is reported to have turned rouge to join and form close relationship with al-Qaeda.

Now American and European security agencies believe that Kashmiri is trying to infiltrate highly trained terrorists into Europe and US to launch coordinated Mumbai style attack in cities Paris, Berlin and London, CNN said.

The TV network said that as many as 10,000 foreign fighters were in Pakistan's tribal territories who were been trained to carry out suicide attacks.

CNN said Kashmiri was a veteran jihadist who in early years infiltrated into Kashmir and also fought Russians in Afghanistan, where he lost his eye.

After falling foul of his ISI sponsors, Kashmiri was arrested in connection with a plot to assassinate Pervez Musharraf in 2003, but was strangely released short time later.
The American intelligence believes he was part of al-Qaeda core team which plotted and carried out the raid on the CIA base in Khost on Afghan-Pak border in which 8 top personnel of the agency were killed.

In a rare interview with Asia Times Online last year in north Waziristan, Kashmiri boasted that Mumbai attacks were nothing compared to "what has already been planned for the future".

CNN said European intelligence officials are now anxious "the future" may be imminent and Kashmiri who has been prescribed "outlaw" by US security agencies may be directing the new terror strikes