ISIS operative trained by Pak handler learnt to make IEDs online

New Delhi: The suspected ISIS operative arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell was guided and trained by a Pakistani handler Abu Huzaifa on social media.

The suspected ISIS operative was arrested with two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) after an exchange of fire with policemen in central Delhi's Ridge Road area, the Delhi Police said on Saturday.

The arrested operative Mohammad Mustakim Khan, alias Abu Yusuf Khan was active since 2015 in India after he joined the ISIS.

Huzaifa had even trained the ISIS operative in making IEDs online. Huzaifa was later killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan last year.

Abu Yusuf Khan was guided and trained by ISIS handlers through social media for the last 4 to 5 years and was planning a lone wolf attack in a heavy footfall area.

"He planned to come to Delhi on Independence Day but couldn't because of heavy security. A terror strike has been averted. He also tested the IED in his village in Balrampur in UP. He has a cosmetic shop in his village," DCP Special Cell P.S. Kushwaha said.

Two pressure cooker-based IEDs, a pistol with four live rounds and one Apache motorcycle were seized from the suspect who was identified by police officials as Mohammad Mustakim Khan alias Abu Yusuf Khan, a native of Balrampur district in Uttar Pradesh.

The shootout took place late on Friday night along the Dhaula Kuan-Karol Bagh route. Sources in the Special Cell said six rounds were fired after which the suspected ISIS operative was taken into custody.

NSG and bomb disposal squads were also pressed into action to defuse the IEDs.

According to police, the suspected ISIS operative was being handled by the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) commanders from Afghanistan and Pakistan and was planning terror strikes in India.

A Delhi Court on Saturday remanded the suspected ISIS operative to eight-day custody of the Delhi Police's Special Cell.

He is being taken to his native place in UP's Balrampur for further probe.

After the arrest, police in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh were also put on high alert.