The Delhi Red Fort car blast, on Monday, had many similarities to commonly used terrorist tactics like ones used by the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-linked terror outfit. The terrorist group is known for multiple terror attacks in the country, like the Pulwama attack in 2019.
One such tactic is the use of VBIEDs or Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices. Members of the groups are instructed to load explosives into a vehicle, drive to the target location, and detonate them.
The method is hard to trace, as it makes it difficult to identify the terrorists and apprehend them. The motives of such persons are also harder to identify, as it's usually a suicide bombing, much like Monday's blast.
The attacks are often a tactic by the groups to either make their presence known or as a counter strike to many of the government's operations that target them.
IEDs or Improvised Explosive Devices, which are used as part of these attacks are homemade bombs using materials like ammonium nitrate. About 2,900kg of ammonium nitrate were recovered by J&K police over the past few days from Faridabad after police arrested about eight individuals, many of them doctors.
Speculations are rife as the pattern, timing, and method used in the Red Fort blast were reminiscent of JeM’s former attacks, like in Pulwama in 2019.
For instance, police sources have said that the attack near the Red Fort had traces of Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO).
Investigators have confirmed that the driver of the vehicle that exploded and killed 13 on Monday, Dr Umar Mohammad (Umar Un Nabi), had links to the uncovered terror plot in Faridabad.
The ‘white collar’ terror module in Faridabad had initially come under scanner for promoting the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a group that has launched several terrorist attacks in the country.
Intelligence officials say that it is too early to draw conclusions and say that Umar’s attack was directly linked to a new JeM cell in capital city, Delhi. Officials are yet to confirm the JeM’s direct involvement in the attack.
Many of Umar’s associates, like Dr Adil Ahmad Rather, are known to be JeM sympathisers. One of the women arrested in the Faridabad explosives haul case, a Lucknow-based woman doctor, was reportedly tasked with setting up and recruiting for the JeM women’s wing in Delhi.
