Intelligence report on ISIS, Boko Haram threat to India-Africa summit, security tightened

NEW DELHI: Law enforcement agencies have been asked to step up security around dignitaries attending the Indo-Africa summit due to the possibility of outfits Boko Haram and Islamic State attempting to disrupt the meet, sources in the intelligence establishment said.

The threat perception of the summit has been marked as "very high" as several heads of state visiting Delhi are under threat from Boko Haram, which is mainly active in Nigeria and has recently pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State.

IS has been trying to mark its presence in the Indian subcontinent, and has claimed responsibility for a few strikes in neighboring Bangladesh. Agencies have a list of people radicalized by ISIS propaganda and Delhi Police has even registered an FIR to take steps against the radicalization moves.

TOI has earlier reported on IS threat in the capital. The current input points to the possibility of a lone-wolf strike aimed at dignitaries or the hotels where they are staying. Highly-placed sources said the foreign region registration office (FRRO) and Delhi Police sleuths were keeping a tab on African nationals who have arrived in Delhi in the last one week.

Over 25,000 Delhi Police and paramilitary personnel are operating in tandem with the African security apparatus in central and New Delhi areas for the summit. Security will be extra tight on October 29 when all heads of state, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and high-ranking Indian and African officials will congregate at the IG indoor stadium.

In March, IS had announced its allegiance to "Sunni brothers of Boko Haram" terming it as expansion of the "caliphate" to Africa. "We announce to you to the good news of the expansion of the caliphate to west Africa because the caliph has accepted the allegiance of our brothers of the Sunni group for preaching and the jihad," IS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani had said in a message. In turn, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau had pledged alliance to IS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Boko Haram is extremist organization that grew in Nigeria and is now categorized as a terrorist outfit. It gained worldwide notoriety for its abduction of 279 school girls from the Nigerian town of Chibok in 2014. The group came into existence in 2003.