IS man was planning lone wolf strike: Cops

New Delhi, August 22

A major terror strike was averted with the arrest of a suspected operative of the ISIS, armed with two pressure cooker IEDS, from central Delhi’s Ridge Road area following a brief exchange of fire, Delhi Police officials said on Saturday.

Mustakeem Khan, alias Abu Yusuf, a resident of a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Balarampur district, who was under watch for over a year, planned to carry out a “lone wolf” strike at a high footfall area in the national capital, said P S Kushwah, DCP (Special Cell).

Khan, who was on a motorcycle, was caught on Friday night after a brief exchange of fire on the section of the Ridge Road between Dhaula Kuan and Karol Bagh.

The two IEDS he was found with were “fully ready” and just needed to be activated with a timer, police said.

Security was stepped up in the national capital and in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh following the arrest.

Khan had planned to strike in the national capital on August 15, but could not do so due to heavy security arrangements, Kushwah said.

“Khan was to come to Delhi around August 15 to carry out terror strikes… Now, he felt the security could be lax so he could come here. But he was nabbed,” he told reporters. He planned to use the pressure cooker IEDS in a heavy footfall area of the city, the police official said.

“After planting IEDs, his plan was to wait for fresh instructions and then the next plan was to carry out fidayeen attacks. But he was not told about when and where the strike was to be carried out. A terror strike has been averted due to this operation,” Kushwah added. — PTI