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France's intelligence services had warned of an imminent plot toattack the Indian embassy in Paris late last year, highly placedgovernment sources have told The Hindu . The warnings, the sources said, were issued on the basis of Frenchintelligence surveillance of Pakistan-trained jihadist MohammedMerah — raising the prospect that information may have longbeen available on the lethal intent of the man who killed sevenpeople, including three children. Merah was killed in a dramatic 32-hour standoff with police at hisToulouse apartment. In a videotape found in the apartment, Merahcan be seen holding a little girl by her hair, calmly reloading hisgun before firing. In another, he tells a soldier: "You killmy brothers, I kill you." Leading Paris-based newspaper Le Monde reported on Thursday that Merah told French police he had beentasked to attack by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Indiangovernment sources confirmed that embassy security had beentightened in the wake of the French warnings, possibly defeatingthe plot. Evidence of Merah's jihadist links had, interestingly, long beenavailable to France. In 2010, Merah was handed over to France afterbeing captured while fighting with jihadists around Kandahar. Yet,he never faced criminal proceedings, and was able to return toPakistan in 2011— suggesting France's intelligence servicesallowed him to operate in the hope of gathering more information. Merah's family links to the jihadist movement were also well known.His step-brother, Sabri Essid, was sentenced to five yearsimprisonment in 2009, for running a safehouse for the al-Qaeda inDamascus. Brandeis University scholar Jytte Klaussen describedMerah himself as "practically a prince in French jihadistcircles." Last month, Le Nouvel Observateur reported that the Renseignements Generaux — the police-ledcounter-terrorism service — had determined, in 2006, thatMerah was a "member of the radical Islamist movement likelyto travel abroad and provide logistics assistance to extremistmilitants." However, the newspaper said, the records werelost in 2008, when the new Direction Centrale du RenseignementInterieur took over the Renseignements Generaux. French police have, however, confirmed that Merah, questioned afterhis November, 2011 visit to Pakistan, provided investigators withphotographs that persuaded them his visit was tourism-focussed. More than 80 French nationals are believed to be training in TTPcamps around Miranshah and Datta Khel. New Delhi's intelligence services say Merah's plan to target theembassy in Paris flags the growing threat to India from theal-Qaeda-linked TTP. In 2010, the al-Qaeda's media wing released aposthumous audio message from top jihadist commander Said al-Masri,claiming responsibility for the bombing of the German Bakery inPune — the first of its kind by the jihadist group. al-Masri said "the person who carried out this operation wasa heroic soldier from the ‘Soldiers of the SacrificeBrigade,' which is one of the brigades of Qaedat al-Jihad [theal-Qaeda's formal name] in Kashmir." Earlier, the TTP despatched Pakistani-American jihadist DavidHeadley to stage an attack on the offices of the Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen — a newspaper that had incensed many Muslimsacross the world by publishing cartoons they felt were blasphemous.Headley, convicted for his role in 26/11 Mumbai attacks, joined theTTP after the Lashkar-e-Taiba refused to back his plans forspectacular operations against targets in Europe and the UnitedStates. In an internet post, Headley said large numbers of foreignjihadists were training at TTP camps: "The bazaar," hewrote, "is bustling with Chechens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Russians,Bosnians, some from European Union countries and, of course, ourArab brothers." High-level al-Qaeda leaders may be adding India to their list oftargets as a means of building their legitimacy among Islamists inPakistan. In April, 2006, Osama bin-Laden himself spoke of a"Crusader-Zionist-Hindu war against the Muslims." Hissuccessors, Ayman al-Zawahiri warned Pakistanis in September, 2003that their former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, was plotting to"hand you over to the Hindus and flee to enjoy his secretaccounts." In a video released in January, the TTP describedthe Pakistan army as "apostates since they act on thedirectives of infidel forces and have been killingmujahideen." For its part, jihadists allied to the Pakistani State havesharpened their anti-western polemic in an effort to stem the flowof disgruntled operatives such as Headley. In April, Lashkar chiefHafiz Muhammad Saeed called on Muslims to "come to us; wewill show you the meaning of jihad." "This is the samejihad which caused the Soviet Union to break and now America isfailing because of it," he said. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Potassium Fertilizer , BioFungicide Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Vegetable Organic Fertilizer.
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