IM more dedicated and adventurous, say experts

Times have changed and so has the Indian Mujahideen (IM), claim senior Delhi Police officers who are aghast at the alacrity with which the terrorist outfit has been operating its local modules after the Batla House encounter in 2008.

Times have changed and so has the Indian Mujahideen (IM), claim senior Delhi Police officers who are aghast at the alacrity with which the terrorist outfit has been operating its local modules after the Batla House encounter in 2008.

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Despite a plethora of terrorist groups, including the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), having sent emails and made phone calls directly to senior officers at the Delhi Police Headquarters to claim responsibility, sources are certain that although the attack outside Delhi High Court on September 7 might not have been the IM's own brainchild — it couldn't have been carried — out without their assistance.

“Whoever claims responsibility, only the IM has the localised knowledge, the network, the technical capability and the experience needed to perpetrate the blast,” said a senior police officer.

The source said the IM had become more dedicated and had learnt from its mistakes in the field of logistics.

The entire strategy has been revamped to include locations of symbolic value, the money trail has been altered and even local criminals are being given a chance at being recruited, said the officer.

“Eleven suspects who had fled India after the Batla House encounter have now turned handlers of local disaffected youth,” the officer said. “They've become adventurous and are using the hit and trial method of varying chemical compositions for bombs, methods of recruitment, among others.”