Buddhist shrines in India on IM radar

Banned outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) is planning terror strikes on Buddhist sites in the country after targeting the world famous shrine in Bodh Gaya five months back, latest intelligence inputs reveal.

Banned outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM) is planning terror strikes on Buddhist sites in the country after targeting the world famous shrine in Bodh Gaya five months back, latest intelligence inputs reveal.

Inputs suggest that IM operatives have conducted a reconnaissance of many Buddhist sites, frequented by foreigners, in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh to avenge the alleged atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

“Arrested members of the Ranchi module of terror outfit IM, alleged to be responsible for attacks on Bodh Gaya and the Patna rally of Narendra Modi, mapped many Buddhist shrines in the country. IM operatives have done a reconnaissance of Kuruma near world famous Konark temple and Lalitgiri in Odisha and Sarnath in UP,” said a police official who was briefed about the threat requesting anonymity.

Central counter-terror sources said the plan indicates the unabated threat the country faces five years after the 26/11 Mumbai attack. It also reflects how Indian terror operatives are getting increasingly steeped into global jehad. IM is now trying to forge an alignment with al Qaeda and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

IM started as a proxy of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba almost a decade back. “We have taken all possible measures to secure the Buddhist sites in our state,” said Prakash Mishra, DGP, Odisha, confirming the state has received intelligence inputs in this regard.