In a fresh development, which will probably not go down well with the Indian public, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday that according to an investigation by independent group – Conflict Armament Research (CAR) – some of the crucial equipments used by the Islamic State militants to assemble deadly Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were manufactured by seven Indian companies.
According to India Today, responding to a question, Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said, “All such components documented by CAR were legally exported from India to business entities in Lebanon and Turkey.”
However, the minister, later clarified that as per CAR reports, there is no evidence to suggest any direct transfer of goods to the Islamic State forces by the countries and companies mentioned in the report.
Chaudhary said the Conflict Armament Research, claiming to be an independent organisation mandated by the European Union to investigate the supply of weapons into the areas of armed conflicts, released an online document titled “tracing the supply of component used in Islamic State (IS) IED”.
“The CAR examined nearly 700 components used by IS to manufacture IEDs between 2014 to February 2016. The report indicates that some of the components procured by the IS operatives included detonators, detonating cards and safety fuses, which, in addition to other countries, were also supplied by seven Indian companies,” he said, as per the report.
The Islamic State controls vast areas in Iraq and Syria and is accused of orchestrating a series of terror attacks in Europe and Asia.
Notably, according to The Times of India, senior ISIS handlers have asked their Indian contacts to suspend their activities for some time as the National Investigation Agency has stepped up its crackdown against people suspected to be having links with the terror group.
Meanwhile, PTI had quoted official sources as saying yesterday that the Islamic State`s chief recruiter in India has been killed in a US airstrike in Syria last week, ending a large hunt of security agencies for a man considered “extremely crucial” in setting up the terror network`s fledgling bases in the country.
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