Indian Mujahideen

Summary: Indian Mujahideen is the name under which individuals called or emailed claiming responsibility for a string of bombings in India. Some observers have asserted that Indian Mujahideen is simply a name for the older (est. 1977) Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), banned for inciting riots. The bombings claimed by "Indian Mujahideen" had several common elements, including the use of several relatively small improvised explosive devices (IEDs) designed and placed in locations where they were likely to cause a large number of casualties (with shrapnel, for example) rather than serious damage to buildings. They took place in the context of long-running tensions between India (which has a large Muslim population) and neighboring Pakistan, which was founded as a Muslim state.

Territory: India.

Religious affiliation or political orientation: Islamist.

Stated goals:

  • Incite renewed communal violence between Muslims and Hindus in India.
  • Retaliate for communal riots in Gujarat in 2002, in which nearly 1,000 Muslims were killed, according to BBC. (Other fatality estimates are as high as 2,500.)
  • Injure elements of the Indian economy, including tourism.

Key leaders: Amir Reza Khan, Iqbal Bhatkal, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, Riyaz Bhatkal.

Alliances: Uncertain. May have links to the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), or Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HUJI).

Activities: Several individuals claimed responsibility over calls or emails for a string of bombings in 2007 and 2008 in the name of Indian Mujahideen

Last known status: Several attacks between 2010 and 2017 were attributed to the group. In 2008, a series of anonymous messages claimed responsibility for separate terrorist attacks in the name of Indian Mujahideen. Anti-terrorism officials said they were unsure whether Indian Mujahideen was a separate organization or a branch of the previously banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). They later banned the Indian Mujahideen.

Indian Mujahideen is mentioned in several messages in 2007 and 2008, taking credit for—and, in at least one case, warning of—distinctive homemade bomb attacks inside India.

Bombings widely blamed on Indian Mujahideen included:

  • November 2007: A string of bombs areplanted in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh. In one case, an email is sent to news media a few minutes before the explosions claiming responsibility in the name of Indian Mujahideen, whose name appears for the first time in connection with these bombs.
  • May 13, 2008: Nine bomb explosions in Jaipur, India, kill over sixty people and injure many others in busy marketplaces.
  • July 25, 2008: Eight explosions occurr in Bengaluru, India, the capital of India's electronics industry, in which two people die and seven are injured.
  • July 26, 2008: More than sixteen synchronized explosions occurr in Ahmadabad, killing as many as thirty-eight people and injuring more than 100 others.
  • July 28, 2008: A series of bomb attacks in Gujarat, in western India, kills at least forty-five. Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility.
  • July 29, 2008: More than twenty improvised explosive devices fail to detonate in Surat, Gujarat, enabling police to examine the design of the devices closely. In this case, a faulty electronic timer is blamed for the failure of the bombs to explode.

On September 13, 2008, five explosions hit the capital, Delhi, killing almost thirty and injuring more than 100.

Most explosions were aimed at crowded market areas using small bombs filled with shrapnel (bolts, nuts, and ball bearings) designed to kill and maim significant numbers of people. Another common element was the electronic timers. In one case, the timers malfunctioned, allowing authorities to examine the bombs closely. The bombs all utilized ammonia nitrate as an ingredient in the explosives, suggesting the perpetrators did not have access to more sophisticated military explosives. In all cases, the attackers relied on having several small bombs at the same site rather than one large device. In 2018, Indian police arrested one of the attackers, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, in Delhi following a gun battle.

In at least one instance, an email message was sent to authorities a few minutes before the device exploded, presumably to give the notification credibility. The message included the serial number of a bicycle used to deliver the bomb to verify the emailer's identity. In the case of the July bombings, emails sent to news organizations said the bombs were aimed at the faith of "the infidels" in India and to retaliate for rioting in Gujarat in 2002, during which nearly 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died. The messages sent on July 26 preceded the explosions by a few minutes.

From 2010 through 2017, the group was suspected of many attacks, primarily in Mumbai, Patna, and Bodh Gaya. In one instance in 2011, the group was believed responsible for detonating an IED placed on a stolen scooter in the Zaveri Bazaar. This was part of a three-pronged attack in three locations—Zaveri bazaar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Though the Indian Mujahedeen militants were considered responsible only for the Zaveri attack, twenty-six people were killed and 130 injured across the three attacks. In the final reported attack in 2017, the group claimed responsibility for a retaliatory attack on an Akal Takht Express train in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, following Abu Dujana's death. No attacks were reported through the early 2020s.

Modus Operandi

Some authorities in India have suggested that Indian Mujahideen could be either an alternate name for the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), a banned organization, or an offshoot of SIMI. Other reports have suggested Indian Mujahideen could be linked to—or an alternative name for—other Islamist groups active in the disputed region of Kashmir, such as Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Authorities have also suggested SIMI has close ties to the Bangladeshi group Harkat-ul Jihad al-Islami (HuJI).

The Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was founded in 1977 in Uttar Pradesh state. Initially organized to promote Islamic teachings, the group established links with LeT and became increasingly radical in the 1990s as Islamist fundamentalism grew in several countries, including neighboring Pakistan. SIMI was banned by the government in 2001 based on accusations that it was inciting riots in several states. Core members were imprisoned; others went underground. Subsequent court challenges have failed to lift the ban.

Since 2006, several members of SIMI in the state of Uttar Pradesh (India's most populous state in north-central India adjacent to Nepal) are known to have joined HuJI or provided housing and logistical assistance. Reports in Indian newspapers have said SIMI attracts educated youths, including technically qualified individuals capable of assembling bombs with electronic timers. At the same time, the bombs linked to Indian Mujahideen or SIMI indicate a lack of access to more sophisticated and powerful military explosives.

In June 2010, India formally banned the Indian Mujahideen under its Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Indian police said the group had been organized by activists from the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, which had already been banned. In August 2010, Delhi's chief magistrate asked authorities to produce three suspects already held in connection with the explosions: Saifur Rehman, Mohd Arif, and Arif Badruddin. All three are wanted in five explosions in Delhi on September 13, 2008.

Larger context

The explosions claimed by Indian Mujahideen served as a reminder of the continuing internal divisions of India. Although many Muslims living in India left for Pakistan at independence, many others did not. A government report in November 2006 put the number of Muslims in India at 13.4 percent of the population—in numbers, this gave India the second largest number of Muslims of any country after Indonesia. At the same time, Indian Muslims lag behind Hindus economically. Muslim poverty is 38 percent higher in urban areas than other groups, including low-caste Hindus. (Rural Muslims fare relatively better.)

Bibliography

Asprey, Robert B. War in the Shadows: Guerrillas in History. W. Morrow, 1994.

Balasubramaniyan, V., and S., Raghavan. Terror Funds in India: Money Behind Mayhem. Lancer, 2017.

"Perpetrators: (Indian Mujahideen)." National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland, www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?perpetrator=30036. Accessed 9 Oct. 2023.

"2008 Gujarat Blasts Mastermind Arrested After Decade-long Manhunt." Times of India, 22 Jan. 2018, timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2008-gujarat-blasts-mastermind-arrested-after-decade-long-manhunt/articleshow/62600348.cms. Accessed 9 Oct. 2023.