Suspected ISIS terrorist wanted to carry out ‘lone wolf’ attack in Delhi: Police

A suspected operative of the Islamic State, a “lone wolf who had planned an attack in the national capital” was arrested by Delhi Police after a shootout in Dhaula Kuan area late on Friday, officials said on Saturday.

Nearly two dozen National Security Guard (NSG) officials along with bomb detection and defusal teams arrived near the Buddha Jayanti Park from where the suspected ISIS operative, who has been identified as Abdul Yusuf Khan, was caught. Delhi Police’s special cell recovered two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from the possession of the man.

“There was an exchange of fire after which he was arrested. He was a lone wolf who had planned an attack in the national capital. We have recovered a pistol and two IEDs from him,” Pramod Kushwaha, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said.

The security personnel cordoned off the entire area as the NSG team defused the two IEDs recovered from the arrested ISIS operative. The team used a remote-controlled vehicle to lift and contain the IEDs in a specially designed vehicle where they were defused by bomb experts. The defusal operation last for nearly three hours, an official privy to the development said, requesting anonymity.

#WATCH Delhi: National Security Guard (NSG) commandos deployed near Buddha Jayanti Park in Ridge Road area, from where one ISIS operative was arrested with Improvised Explosive Device, earlier today. pic.twitter.com/9n7KGfOXZC

— ANI (@ANI) August 22, 2020

The arrested ISIS operative has not been cooperating during the interrogation and is misleading them by changing his statements. Special cell officials said they are yet to establish the exact residential address of the person, as he has given them three addresses -- Balrampur and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh and another in Uttarakhand.

“We are verifying the addresses he has given,” DCP Kushwaha sais, adding that the pistol recovered from the arrested man is of .30 bore.

Officials said they have learnt about an associate of the arrested man. The information is also being verified.

A police team had received information about Khan’s movement in the ridge area between Dhaula Kuan and Karol Bagh, following which it laid a trap. The suspected ISIS operative was on a motorcycle when he was intercepted by the police, ANI reported citing an official. Searches underway at several locations, ANI added.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh police sounded a statewide alert on Saturday after the arrest of the suspected ISIS operative in Delhi, Prashant Kumar, additional director general (ADG) of police (law and order), said. Kumar said all district police chiefs have been asked to intensify vigil and carry out extensive drives to check the movement of suspicious people.

A senior police official of UP Anti Terror Squad (ATS) said a team has been sent to Delhi to collect inputs about plans of the arrested man.