In the run up to targeting Hindus, the PFI had trained by chasing dogs with swords

The terror groups of today believe in unconventional choices of weapons. They include, trucks, cars, knives, rocks. The Islamic State says run the enemy over with a car and then spit on the face of the disbeliever

New Delhi, Jan 02: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) last week made three important revelations relating to the Popular Front of India (PFI).

While arresting one advocate cum martial arts specialist, it said that he was allegedly training PFI cadres of the hit-squads. Secondly it said that the PFI had scouted for targets in the forests to conduct arms training. Third, the NIA said that the outfit was training its cadres under the garb of conducting Yoga camps.

Once recruited into the PFI, the Muslim youth were sent tot training camps organised by the outfit under the cover and guise of Yoga classes and Physical Education Beginners course. Here they were trained in the use of everyday articles such as knives, sickles and iron rods to kill a person by attacking vulnerable body parts such as the throat, stomach and head and for the commission of acts of terror, a portion of the NIA's chargesheet filed in connection with the Nizamabad PFI case read.

When the NIA arrested Mohammad Mubarak A I a PFI martial arts and hit-squad trainer, the agency said that during the searches weapons including an axe, swords and sickles were recovered.

The kind of violence that has been propagated by the PFI clearly points to the modus operandi that the Islamic State has been using. The outfit had listed out a choice of weapons that lone wolves could use to target non-Muslims. It has used cars, trucks, knives and rods to hit the target.

In 2012, a report said that cadres of the PFI had been practicing how to use these weapons on dogs. Such incidents had been reported in Kannur, Kozhikode, Mallapuram and Thrissur districts. Such incidents were found to be highest in Chova in Kannur where the PFI had identified a big ground.

It was further found that these Islamist radicals would train in batches of 30. They would get the dogs from the treats and chase them on bikes. They would then target the dogs.

Similar instances were also reported from Kakikavu, Pandikkad, Changaramkulam, Peinthalmanna, Palakkad and Kozhikode, which are heavily Muslim dominated.

These unconventional means are not new. The carnage at Nice and France by the Islamic State woke the world up to a new type of terror attack where a truck and knives were the choice of weapons. An official tells OneIndia that both the Al-Qaeda as well as the Islamic State have used such unconventional weapons. In a 2015 article, the Al-Qaeda in an article called Islamic radicals to attack people with trucks while calling it an 'ultimate mowing machine.' The article went to say, 'pick up the truck not to now grass, but the enemies.

The Islamic State's Abu Muhammad al-Adnani had said if you are unable to find an IED or bullet, run your enemy over with a car. Take a car, kill the enemy and spit on their faces, the article also said. The Islamic State also called for smashing the enemy's head with a rock and if you can't find a rock throw the enemy from a building or choke them. In a nut shell be it the PFI or the Islamic State, their choice of weapons has largely been unconventional and they are- vehicles, poison, knives or rocks.