New Delhi:
Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is planning terror attacks on the sacred city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, according to the input received by Indian intelligence agencies. Sources revealed that the intelligence agencies have intercepted a message of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar sent via a social media app. Azhar is said to have shared the message in which he talked about executing an attack on the Ram Janmbhoomi temple in Ayodhya. According to these sources, the message was sent on a Telegram channel being used by Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The input has been shared with all the relevant security agencies. Security has been beefed up in Ayodhya and other important places. The agencies are also keeping a close eye on the Jaish-e-Mohammed network in the country.
Azhar founded JeM after he was released from Indian custody in 1999, in exchange for more than 150 hostages held on an Indian Airlines flight that had been hijacked and diverted to Kandahar in Afghanistan. Azhar is said to have formed JeM with the support of then-al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and the Afghan Taliban, according to the United Nations.
JeM has carried out several high-profile suicide and other attacks against Indian targets since its formation. In 2001, JeM carried out attacks on the legislative assembly building in Jammu and Kashmir and on the Indian parliament. More than 50 people were killed in the two attacks.
In 2016, JeM was linked to an attack on a security forces base at Uri, killing 19 people. In February 2019, JeM claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 40 Indian soldiers in Pulwama, the worst such attack on Kashmiri soil.
