TERRORISTS RAID INDIAN POLICE COMPOUND IN UP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 000030 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA, DS/DSS/ITA, AND S/CT/ALLAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2018 TAGS: PTER AESC PGOV CASC PREL KISL KCRM IN SUBJECT: TERRORISTS RAID INDIAN POLICE COMPOUND IN UP REF: NEW DELHI 5158 NEW DELHI 00000030 001.4 OF 002 Classified By: A/DCM Ted Osius for Reasons 1.4 (B and D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Four terrorists, dressed as paramilitary officers, attacked a federal police compound in Uttar Pradesh (UP) during the early hours of January 1st and killed eight people. The attack displayed the hallmarks of a few different terrorist groups active in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), though no group has claimed responsibility. Police are following leads, including the possibility of an inside job. The bold and deeply troubling attack, shortly on the heels of the serial bombings of three UP courthouses, points to an aggressive and confident terrorist infrastructure in UP within 100 miles of Delhi. End Summary A Bold Attack -------------- ¶2. (U) Four terrorists stormed a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) compound in Rampur, UP, at approximately 3am on January 1st and killed seven CRPF personnel and one civilian. According to reports the attack was well planned and all four terrorists, dressed in CRPF uniforms, escaped. No group has claimed responsibility. The Usual Suspects Possibly with Inside Help -------------- ¶3. (U) Police suspect Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (Jem) or Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI). According to news reports police have questioned numerous suspects but no one has been detained. The Indian Express reports that the Anti-Terrorist Squad has questioned two CRFP members from J&K, and quote unnamed "top CRFP officials" as stating the "internal sabotage" angle is under investigation. Deputy Police Inspector General Rajeev Krishna told The Indian Express, "We are investigating the case from all possible angles, including that of a mole's presence." But CRPF Director General S.I.S. Ahmed dismissed the involvement of CRPF personnel as "absurd." A Disturbing Trend in UP -------------- ¶4. (U) The attack follows the November 23rd serial bombings of courthouses in the UP cities Varanasi, Lucknow and Faizabad in which 13 people died. Shortly before those blasts, media outlets in UP received a warning email from a group calling itself "Indian mujahideen." The email stated, "Our next target will be Indian police." (Reftel) ¶5. (U) UP Chief Minister Mayawati quickly blamed the CRPF for "carelessness," and said the CRPF had been warned by local authorities. "When there was a terrorist threat, the paramilitary force should have been careful," she maintained. Not missing a beat, BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi demanded a terrorism "white paper" from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Touring the attack site with BJP president Rajnath Singh, Naqvi declared, "The UPA government should give a detailed explanation of how terrorism has spread all over the country in its three and a half years of their rule." Terrorists Operating with Impunity in UP -------------- ¶6. (C) Comment: Regardless of which group or groups is responsible, an attack of this nature on a federal police force base only 150km from Delhi is very troubling. The J&K style tactics suggest terrorists have decided to pursue targets outside J&K. The ability of the terrorists to gain relatively easy entry into the compound and then slip away into the night indicates a full fledged operational terrorist cell in UP with local support. Since the November serial blasts, UP police have reportedly detained youths associated with HuJI as responsible. If this is true, and HuJI is also responsible for the Rampur attack, the group was clearly unhindered by the blasts investigation. This indicates a wide NEW DELHI 00000030 002.2 OF 002 operational network for HuJI in UP, with deeply worrying security implications for cities throughout UP and, of course, Delhi itself. Delhi remains a more hardened target than UP, but an attack here can't be far away. End Comment WHITE