Russia detains IS suicide bomber plotting terrorist attack in India

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Monday announced that it had detained an alleged Islamic State (IS) suicide bomber who was planning to fly to India to attack a key politician from the ruling party.

ET has reliably gathered that the bomber was planning to enter India via a third country. FSB is in touch with the Indian authorities following the arrest.

There are reports that the bomber from Central Asia wanted to carry out a strike over the Prophet remarks. Sources told ET that the Russian authorities have carried out a thorough investigation into the matter. The detainee (Azamov Mashrabkhon) is allegedly from Uzbekistan.



FSB has also released a video where the suspected terrorist has confessed “that he was preparing an act of terrorism against a member of India’s ruling circles for insulting the Prophet Muhammad”.

The detainee said in the video that he swore allegiance to the IS Amir in April 2022 and underwent special training, after which he flew to Russia, from where he was to travel to India. “I was supposed to be given things there to commit a terrorist attack at the behest of the IS for insulting the Prophet Muhammad,” said the man in the video.

The arrest happened within days of NSA AK Doval’s visit to Moscow. Counter-terror cooperation figured high on the agenda during his meeting with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev.

“The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation on the territory of Russia identified and detained a member of the international terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’ banned in Russia, a native of a country in the Central Asian region, who planned to commit a terrorist act by self-detonation against one of the representatives in the ruling circles of India,” the FSB said in a statement.

According to FSB, the man was recruited as a suicide bomber by one of the IS leaders “in the period from April to June 2022”, while in Turkey.

“As a result, the terrorist took an oath of allegiance to the ISIS* amir. After that, he was given the task of leaving for Russia, completing the necessary documents and flying to India to commit a high-profile terrorist act,” the FSB added.

His indoctrination was carried out remotely through the accounts of the messenger “Telegram” and during personal meetings in Istanbul by a representative of the terrorist organisation, sources said.

“A news bulletin” by Al Azaim Foundation, the mouthpiece of Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP), said India was on target of the organisation for Nupur Sharma’s “blasphemy” act.

FSB is the principal security agency of Russia and the main successor agency to the Soviet Union’s KGB. Its primary responsibilities are within the country and include counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and surveillance as well as investigating some other types of serious crimes and federal law violations.