The terrorist recruit was tasked with killing a senior figure in the Indian leadership, law enforcement reported
Screenshot from a video showing the suspect. © FSB
A person who allegedly plotted to blow himself up to kill a senior Indian politician was intercepted during transit through Russia, the Federal Security Service (FSB) reported on Monday.
The would-be suicide bomber was recruited in Turkey by the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), the statement said. The man was radicalized on social media and met a representative of IS in Istanbul to record a pledge of allegiance before going on a mission to India, the FSB said. Russia served as a transit nation for the trip, the agency said.
Russian law enforcement described the intended target of the terrorist attack as a “member of the ruling circles of India.”
The FSB said the man was a citizen of an unnamed Central Asian nation, who was “staying in the Turkish Republic between April and June 2022.”
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The agency also released a video in which the suspect, whose face was blurred, confessed to pledging allegiance to ISIS. He was speaking in broken Russian and said he received “special training” and was supposed to meet a handler in India who would provide him with the “necessary materials for a terrorist attack.” The Indian target allegedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed, he said.
