...
...
Next Story

Russian FSB to allow India access to detained IS bomber

While Russia will take approval from Uzbekistan before giving access to Islamic State bomber, the Indian security agencies are keen to dig out the local link who was to supply explosives and target to the terrorist.

Published on: Oct 12, 2022, 09:05:25 IST
Advertisement

Russia has agreed into principle to allow Indian security agencies access to detained Islamic State terrorist, who was planning to target members of the ruling BJP or the RSS for alleged blasphemy, after securing approval from the country of radical’s origin Uzbekistan.

Islamic State terrorist from Uzbek detained in Russia.(PTI)
Islamic State terrorist from Uzbek detained in Russia.(PTI)

On July 27, 2022, the Russian security agency, the FSB, informed their Indian counterparts about the detention of 30-year-old Uzbek national Mashrabkon Azamov, who was planning to commit a suicide bombing against the ruling party representatives in India for alleged blasphemy. Azamov along with another Kyrgyzstan national was radicalized by an IS handler in Turkey as well as through online channels for the mission against India. The terrorist chose the Moscow route to enter India to avoid maximum scrutiny by the Indian immigration authorities.

With India and Russia partners against religious fundamentalism and terrorism, the FSB has conveyed to its Indian counterpart that they will allow access to Azamov after taking approval from Uzbekistan. The Kyrgyzstan national was not picked up by the FSB and apparently went back to Turkey.

With the Taliban not being able to control large swathes of Afghan territory, the ISKP is expected to expand in the ultra-conservative and already radicalized Emirate and will be a cause of problems to India, bordering Central Asian Republics and China soon.

 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta

Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather major national developments and Karnataka Bandh LIVE.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather major national developments and Karnataka Bandh LIVE.
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Hindustantimes wants to start sending you push notifications. Click allow to subscribe