Russia Detains IS Suicide Bomber Plotting To Attack India's Ruling Leadership: Report

The detained member of the Islamic State terrorist group was recruited by one of the IS leaders as a suicide bomber in Turkey, the Russian Federal Security Service said.

New Delhi: The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) on Monday informed that its officers had detained a suicide bomber, a member of the Islamic State terrorist group.

He was plotting a terrorist attack against one of India's leadership elite, Russian news agency Sputnik reported FSB as stating.

"Russia's FSB identified and detained a member of the Islamic State international terrorist organisation banned in Russia, a native of a country in the Central Asian region, who planned to commit a terrorist act by blowing himself up against one of the representatives of the ruling circles of India," the authority stated in a statement, as per Sputnik.

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It was informed that the detained member of the Islamic State terrorist group was recruited by one of the IS leaders as a suicide bomber in Turkey.

Islamic State and all its manifestations have been notified as Terrorist Organisation and included in the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 by the Union Government.

According to Home Ministry, IS is using various internet-based social media platforms to propagate its ideology. The online platforms are being closely watched in this regard by the agencies concerned and action is taken as per law.

IS Terrorists In Afghanistan Increased To 6,000 Since Taliban Takeover: Russia

Earlier, Russia had said that the number of Islamic State terrorist organisation members in Afghanistan increased three times to 6,000 since the Taliban came to power last year.

Zamir Kabulov, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department, said, "As far as we understand, their approximate estimated number has reached 6,000. If you remember, after the Taliban came to power and took tough steps against the IS, their number was about 2,000 more or less. That is, even approximately, a three-fold increase." 

"This is the most negative side of the development of the Afghan situation, because the IS, as before, are sharpened to destabilise not only Afghanistan, but also its neighbors," he was quoted as saying by Sputnik at a press conference at the Rossiya Segodnya international media group.

Since the Taliban seized power in August last year, the regime has been fighting with the IS in several provinces.

Armed groups linked to the Afghan branch of the Islamic State carried out bombings targeting ethnic Hazaras, Afghan Shias, Sufis, and others, killing and injuring hundreds.

In June, a new report prepared for the UN Security Council stated that the Taliban regime faces multiple threats from al-Qaida, the Islamic State, and an insurgency in the northern region of Panjshir.

Neither IS nor al-Qaida is expected to be able to launch international attacks "before 2023 at the earliest, regardless of their intent or of whether the Taliban acts to restrain them", news agency ANI reported the report as stating.