New Delhi: Two suspected operatives of al-Qaeda, who were allegedly planning to carry out attacks in the national capital during Christmas and New Year, were detained by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on Tuesday.
The two suspected operatives are believed to be natives of Sambhal district in Uttar Pradesh.
According to special cell, two year ago, the two had visited Tehran and Afghanistan and had undergone training at Taliban camps. Intelligence agencies were constantly tracking their movements and when they returned to India, police arrested them.
One suspected, identified as Aasif (45), is said to be a sleeper cell of al-Qaeda's India branch.
It is also the first time that terror operatives linked to the al-Qaeda are under arrest in India.
Intelligence agencies along with the special cell are now interrogating them to establish further links.
Reports suggested that the two were in process of establishing a big network to carry out terror attacks at several places in India. The two, intelligence said, were using social networking sites to radicalise youths.
Special Cell teams are also conducting search operation at several places across UP, tracking other potential operatives of the jihadi outfit.
It should be noted that last year, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri had announced the formation of an Indian wing of the terror group to raise the flag of jihad across the subcontinent.
Recently, an intelligence report stated that Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI held a meeting with chiefs of terror organisations including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) asking them to plan terror attacks in India.
