Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen claim under scrutiny after blast at Ghaziabad police outpost

• An NIA team visited the site of a blast at Ghaziabad’s Vasundhara police outpost that injured a food delivery executive

• Investigators are examining a social media claim of responsibility issued in the name of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen; its authenticity remains unverified

• Intelligence officials say they are assessing whether the claim came from an existing organisation, a splinter faction or a newly created online front

Investigators are examining a suspected terror connection to an explosion at the Vasundhara police outpost in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, with particular attention to an unverified social media claim of responsibility issued in the name of Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM).

A National Investigation Agency team visited the site to gather information about the blast, which injured a food delivery executive. Agencies are working to determine the precise nature and cause of the explosion.

The claim has raised a separate question: whether the account behind it represents the established militant organisation, one of its splinter factions or an online front using its name. An intelligence official said investigators were examining these possibilities.

The NIA team’s visit does not, by itself, establish that the agency has formally taken over the investigation. Nor has the claim of responsibility established who carried out the blast.

TuM traces its origins to 1990, when it was founded by Yunus Khan with the stated aim of separating Jammu and Kashmir from India.

According to an Intelligence Bureau official cited in the report, the organisation initially carried out grenade attacks before increasingly focusing on recruitment, radicalisation and logistical assistance to groups including Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Officials said its activities and organisational structure had since changed. They pointed to charge sheets filed by Jammu and Kashmir’s State Investigation Agency concerning a narcotics network linked to the outfit.

According to those accounts, the network is managed by Pakistan-based Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, also known as Khalid Bhai. An official said proceeds from narcotics trafficking were used to finance militant organisations operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officials also described several TuM splinter factions, some of which have been investigated over cybercrime and smaller operations. Establishing whether any such faction has a connection to the Ghaziabad explosion is part of the current inquiry.

The scrutiny comes amid what intelligence officials describe as a proliferation of militant fronts and online identities, particularly after Operation Sindoor.

According to their assessment, some operate on behalf of larger organisations, while others mainly circulate threats and claims online. Officials contend that such activity can divert investigative resources, obscure responsibility and provide cover for established militant networks.

These assessments do not establish that the Ghaziabad claim was part of such an operation. Investigators must first authenticate the post and determine whether its authors had any involvement in the explosion.

Officials cited The Resistance Front, the People’s Anti-Fascist Front, the Jammu and Kashmir Ghaznavi Force, the United Liberation Front and Kashmir Tigers as examples of groups they associate with larger Pakistan-based militant organisations, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

They also referred to Tehreek-e-Taliban Hindustan, which they described as an online entity created by the Shehzad Bhatti network to project the existence of an Indian offshoot of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. That characterisation was attributed to intelligence officials.

For the Ghaziabad investigation, the immediate priorities remain establishing what caused the blast, identifying those responsible and testing the credibility of the online claim against evidence collected from the scene.

With IANS inputs