Lucknow: The interrogation of Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi, who was apprehended in connection with an attack on security officers stationed at Gorakhnath temple in Uttar Pradesh, uncovered the suspect’s ties to the extremist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Murtaza Abbasi, according to the UP Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), had taken the oath of fighting for ISIS and was providing financial support to the militant group’s supporters.
Murtaza took an oath to fight for the terrorist organization ISIS in the year 2020, the Uttar Pradesh Police said.
The police added that Murtaza Abbasi was also in touch with ISIS terrorist and propaganda activist Mehndi Masood through social media. Mehndi Masood was arrested by Bangalore Police in 2014.
Through social media, Murtaza was constantly in touch with the fighters and supporters of ISIS abroad, the UP police said.
Murtaza confessed during interrogation that he had studied material on the internet regarding a variety of weaponry, including the AK-47 and the 5-4 carbine. Murtaza is said to have exercised with an air gun at home in the aim of carrying out an assault if he could get his hands on it.
GORAKHPUR TEMPLE ATTACK
On Sunday night, a man attacked members of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Armed Constabulary stationed at the Gorakhnath shrine in Gorakhpur. After a brief chase, the man, a chemical engineer named Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi, was apprehended.
In a video that is being widely shared, Abbasi can be seen chasing cops with a sickle while the policemen and passersby lob bricks at him to defend themselves.
Two constables were reportedly injured in the incident.
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