Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed – which investigators have linked to the Delhi Red Fort car bomb – is preparing a ‘fidayeen‘, or suicide, squad to launch another attack against India and is raising funds for that purpose, intelligence sources told NDTV Wednesday morning.
Sources said clues unearthed during the investigation into the Red Fort blast suggested Jaish leaders had called for fund-raising via digital means, including a Pak app called SadaPay. They may also be plotting a women-led attack, sources said.
The Jaish already has a ‘women’s wing’; terror boss Masood Azhar‘s sister, Sadiya, was tasked with leading that unit, which was set up after Op Sindoor, India’s military response to the Pahalgam attack, wiped out JeM camps in Pak’s Bahawalpur.
One of the key suspects in the Red Fort blast – Dr Shahina Saeed, whose codename was allegedly ‘Madam Surgeon’ and may have been responsible for financing the attack – is reportedly a member of that unit, which is called Jamat ul-Muminat.
Jaish leaders calling for ‘donations’ reportedly said anyone who provides a winter kit for a ‘mujahid‘, i.e., the term for a fighter, will themselves be considered a ‘jihadi‘. Similarly, anyone who ‘cares for a ‘jihadi‘ after he is killed’ will also be called a ‘jihadi‘.
The ‘donation’ amount is believed to be 20,000 Pakistani rupees, or about INR 6,400, and will be used to buy items like shoes and woollen socks, a mattress, a tent, all of which a terrorist might need when in the field, before or after launching an attack.
The aim, sources said, is also to facilitate quick transfer of funds to terror cells in the field, such as the 10-member ‘terror doctor’ outfit that carried out the Red Fort attack. A separate investigation has been launched into this digital funding network.
Fifteen people were killed after a Hyundai i20 packed with ammonium nitrate fuel oil and other explosives detonated near the historic structure on November 10. The car was driven by Dr Umar Mohammad, who died in the blast. On Tuesday an undated, self-shot video of Mohammad emerged online, in which he spoke about suicide bombing being ‘misunderstood’.
Lashkar, Jaish’s new J&K attack plan
Earlier this month fresh intelligence accessed by NDTV suggested an alarming escalation in Pak-backed terrorism in J&K. The inputs indicated major groups, like the Jaish and Lashkar-e-Taiba were mobilising for a new wave of coordinated strikes.
Both are prominent terrorist groups that are financed and supported by the Pak Army and that country’s deep state, and have made headlines in India over the past six months, each for an attack that claimed the lives of civilians.
READ | Jaish Vs Lashkar, Key Differences Between 2 Pak-Based Terror Groups
On Tuesday, as investigations continue into the Red Fort car bomb case, intelligence sources explained the differences between each, including their operational styles, leadership structures, and indoctrination methodology.
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