Amaravati, 5 April

A terror module with suspected links to foreign handlers and extremist organisations, including ISIS, allegedly involved in radicalising youth in Indian states, including Karnataka, has been unearthed.

An intelligence department source said on Sunday that the prime accused, Rahamathullah Sharif and his associates were in contact with operatives engaged in spreading jihadi propaganda and motivating youth through online videos.

Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh police deployed teams across Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana and Rajasthan to arrest a dozen suspects, including three from the southern State, linked to the network.

Investigators suspect that women were encouraged to join a separate 'Khawateen' wing as part of the group's expansion strategy.

"A jihadi module with links to foreign handlers and extremist organisations like Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has been unearthed, which was engaged in radicalising youth in India," an intelligence department official said.

The group was actively sharing extremist content and maintaining links with foreign handlers.

The accused allegedly circulated videos of Osama Bin Laden, Israr Ahmed Shaik, Zakir Naik and Anwar al-Awlaki to influence Muslim youth towards jihad and extremist ideologies.

Police found that the group had established contact with handlers based in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and Bangladesh through over 40 social media accounts, with intentions to facilitate 'Hijrat' and establish an Islamic State (Khilafat) in India.