The “battle-hardened” Islamist State group’s Indian operative, Subahani Haja Moideen, has disclosed that one of the attackers involved in the Paris strike was his “group leader”.
The coordinated attacks inside a Parisian theatre left around 130 people dead in November 2015.
The 31-year-old IS recruit from Tamil Nadu had travelled to Istanbul in April 2015 and then to Syria and Mosul with other foreign jihadists. It was then that he met two of the nine Paris bombers – Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Salah Abdeslam. While Abaaoud was killed in retaliatory fire, Abdeslam is French police’s custody.
Moideen said during the time he crossed over to Iraq from Turkey and his training, in which he was given religious lessons, taught use of AK-47, grenade launchers, bomb making and use of machetes, one of the Paris attackers/conspirators was the in charge of the group.Official in the security establishment to TOI
French Officials Informed
Moideen claimed that he was not part of the Paris attack planning.
He was nabbed by the NIA with the help of central security agencies and state police earlier this month after he returned to India on 22 September 2015 following a knee injury and was laying low. But Moideen told his interrogators that he decided to leave after two of his friends were killed.
The NIA has informed the French security officials, adding that this was done in case it would lend any help to their investigation. They said that French officials could question him as well after getting the requisite court order.
His plans to attack RSS leaders and Kerala HC judges also emerged recently.
(With inputs from PTI, The Times of India, Indian Express)
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