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Afghan forces arrest Islamic State Khorasan chief Mawlawi Abdullah, mastermind behind March 25 Kabul Gurdwara attack

It is believed that the terrorist leader has links with the Pakistan deep state

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In a special operation on Saturday, Afghan security forces arrested the chief of the terror outfit Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), Mawlawi Abdullah aka Aslam Farooqui. The ISKP chief was arrested on charges of planning the March 25 Kabul Gurdwara attack. The ISKP had claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed 27 Sikhs, on the gurdwara at the Shor Bazaar area in the Afghan capital.

Four Pakistani nationals & ISIS members - Masoudullah from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Khan Mohammad from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Salman from Karachi, & Ali Mohammad from Islamabad have also been arrested

 

 

According to news agencies, Mawlawi Abdullah is a Pakistani national who was earlier associated with the proscribed Lashkar-e-Tayebba (LeT) group and then the Tehreek-e-Taliban terror group. He replaced Mawlawi Zia-ul-Haq aka Abu Omar Khorasani as ISKP chief in April last year. Farooqi belongs to the Mamozai tribe and from the Orakzai agency area on the Pak-Afghan border.

The Afghan Intelligence Agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), in a release confirmed the news of the Islamic State Khorasan chief being arrested by the Afghan authorities. In the release, NDS said that the terrorist leader had links with Pakistan-based terror networks like Lashkar and Haqqani. 

Reports elaborate that Kabul intelligence sources had reason to believe that Mawlawi Abdullah acted under the orders of the Haqqani Network, which is the sword arm of the Taliban and has contacts with the Pakistan deep state. The arrested terrorist leader will now be interrogated by the Aghan intelligence agencies to get further information out of him regarding the terror attack, including its links with Pakistan and the Taliban's intent in attacking Indian nationals over New Delhi's role in the US-Taliban peace deal. More names of terror chiefs are likely to be revealed under further investigation.

Earlier, Indian intelligence agencies had indicated that Lashkar-e-Toiba and Haqqani Network are jointly responsible for the terrorist attack at the Sikh Gurudwara in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Terrorists attacked the Gurudwara in the Shor Bazar area of Kabul early morning on Wednesday as around 150 people were inside, killing at least 27 and injuring several others. 

There is also a possibility that terrorists wanted to target Indian diplomats visiting Gurudwara at the time of the attack.

Indian agencies believe that the deadly attack is orchestrated by Pakistan's 'ISI' which is also promoting Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) to keep a check on the Taliban.

"Taliban will deny so that they are projected as a responsible organisation in line with US-Taliban agreement. ISI will use the name of ISKP or unknown outfits to claim responsibility," an officer working with the security establishment in India had told Zee News.

This was the deadliest attack since the peace deal was signed between the US and the Taliban in Doha last month. The US has agreed to completely withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. At the same time, Pakistan has taken advantage of this opportunity to help terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan.  

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