The Islamic State has arrived in India

The Intelligence Bureau has been saying it for some time now that the Islamic State would stage an attack.

The police in Madhya Pradesh were quick to suggest that the train explosion on the Bihar-Ujjain express was an act of terror. However, what is more important is that the police said that Saifullah, the man killed in the Lucknow encounter had links with the Islamic State's Khorasan province, and was getting directions from a handler abroad.

With the police and the Intelligence Bureau both stating that Saifullah was an IS operative, it marks the first attack by the dreaded group in India. For several months now, the IB has been warning of a buildup of the IS in India. IB officials had even said that the IS would stage an attack several times.

The explosion that took place on the Bhopal-Ujjain passenger train at Jabri railway station on Tuesday was low in intensity. "It may have been a trial run," said an IB officer who was involved in the probe. The train explosion comes in the wake of several cases of sabotage on the tracks being probed by multiple agencies including the National Investigating Agency.

In the past year, several modules of the IS have been busted by the police. Modules in West Bengal, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh had planned big attacks. However they were stopped from executing the attacks as they were busted just in time by the police with the help of central agencies.

The IS modules which are guided by Syria-based Indian origin handler Shafi Armar had planned both coordinated as well as lone wolf attacks. The chatter that had been picked up suggested that a series of attacks were being planned in a bid to set up the Islamic Caliphate in India.

OneIndia News