Investigators probing the terror module busted in Karnataka have claimed that the arrested youths were inspired by the contents of an online magazine which glorifies activities of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Sources in a joint team of Central security agencies comprising officials of Intelligence Bureau and RAW conducting the probe claimed on Sunday that during questioning of the arrested people it has emerged they had been apparently indoctrinated to join the terror module by various inflammatory speeches uploaded on Internet and writings in the magazine of the sleeper cell of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT).
The arrested include a journalist working with a prominent newspaper in Bengaluru and a junior research fellow of premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The arrested persons have spoken extensively about an online magazine, Inspire, linked to Al Qaeda and published from somewhere in Yemen where articles relate towards drawing youth to an “armed war” against Americans, India, Israel and other Western countries who have allied with the US in Afghanistan, the sources said.
The laptop and pen drives seized from the arrested people also showed their extensive visit to websites that spoke about joining of terror modules and how to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance of individuals and important targets.
The magazine has been touted by many US think-tanks, as an effective tool of banned Al Qaeda terror group for recruiting youths without getting in physical contact with them. According to US think-tank, Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Al Qaeda and its Associated Members (AQAM) recognised the importance of information and communication technology and has exploited it for training purposes. It says that the magazine has provided instructions on topics such as “how to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom” and how to clean AK-47 besides other traditional propaganda pieces. — PTI