Terrorist who blew himself up in Jeddah was an NRI, confirms Saudi Arabia

coastaldigest.com web desk
May 1, 2018

Newsroom, May 1: The bomber who blew himself up outside the US Consulate in Jeddah, a coastal city of Saudi Arabia two years ago was a non-resident Indian, confirmed the authorities of the Kingdom on the basis of DNA tests.

The accused who killed himself in bid to cause harm to others has been identified as Fayaz Kagzi, an Indian national and alleged operative of the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a senior security official said.

The Jeddah blast on July 4, 2016, which injured two security officers, was the first of three attacks to hit the kingdom that day. The other two were also in the form of blasts near a Shia mosque in Qatif and outside the Masjid-i-Nabvi in Medina.

The National Investigation Agency informed the Patiala house court in Delhi that the terror mastermind was dead. Sources said that NIA believes Kagzi, who hails from Beed in Maharashtra, was the 'mastermind', 'financier' of the 2010 German bakery blast and 2012 JM Road bombing. The 34-year-old was also wanted in the Aurangabad arms haul case and is suspected of teaching Hindi to 26/11 terrorists, including Ajmal Kasab.

Saudi authorities had first released the picture of the Jeddah bomber and called him Abdullah Qalzar Khan, a Pakistani national. Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers identified the man in the picture as Fayaz Kagzi and subsequently, with the help of NIA, shared their suspicion with Jeddah.

Kagzi fled to Pakistan via Bangladesh in 2006 and shifted his base to Saudi Arabia in 2009 to oversee the recruitment of Indian nationals to LeT. Sources say that it is possible that he took on a new name of Abdullah Qalzar Khan while in Pakistan.

Abu Jundal, a convict in the Aurangabad arms haul case, had told investigators that he met Kagzi in Saudi Arabia. Jundal was extradited to India in 2012 and is currently facing trial in conspiracy against India cases.

Agencies believe after Jundal's extradition, Kagzi switched alliance to ISIS and became part of the Jeddah suicide bombing conspiracy.

India and Saudi Arabia have in recent times cooperated in terrorism-related cases. India could arrest Lashkar's Abdul Karim Tunda only after Saudi authorities cooperated.

Saudi Arabian ambassador to India, Dr Saud bin Mohammed Al Sati, had said last week that the kingdom has a very strong cooperation with India on countering terrorism, extremism and terror financing.

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Roshan Deen
 - 
Wednesday, 2 May 2018

Suicide bomber who blew himself up near the United States consulate in Jeddah early Monday has been identified as a Pakistani citizen, the Saudi interior ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry identified the man as 35-year-old Abdullah Gulzar Khan, who worked as a driver in the kingdom.
Khan had been living with his wife and her parents in Jeddah for 12 years, the interior ministry said in a tweet. July 05, 2016
https://www.dawn.com/news/1269220

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News Network
May 29,2020

Bantwal, Karnataka, May 29: Vitla Police have registered a case against four persons, including a Bajrang Dal leader, on charges of assaulting a boy and forcing him to chant 'Jai Shree Ram', video of which had gone viral on social media.

Police said on Friday that the accused have been identified as Bajrang Dal leader Dinesh, a resident of Kanyana, and two 16-year-old youngsters from Kolnadu village and a 17-year-old boy from Kanyana village. The victim of the assault has been identified as the first PUC student of Kudtumugaru.

On April 21, at around 11 am, four accused waylaid the boy's bike and started abusing him. They then dragged the boy to Kadumath High School grounds and assaulted and posed life threat. Besides, they forced him to chant ''Jai Shree Ram,'' he stated in the complaint.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Chithradurga, Mar 25: COVID-19-positive cases in Karnataka jumped to 42 from 33 on Tuesday, with nine cases added to the list overnight. The daughter of G M Siddeshwara, Davanagere MP, is the latest case.

Sources from the Siddeshwara family said that the MP’s daughter, along with her two children, who started from Guyana, first landed at New York airport and from there, she took a flight to New Delhi.

From Delhi, she flew to Bengaluru. And then, she and her children travelled with her father in a chaffeur-driven car on March 21 to their house in Bheemasamudra.


Siddeshwara said that protocol for COVID-19 had been followed and all who returned were under self-quarantine at his house. However, the administration was not informed of her travel history till the samples were given for test, Chitradurga Deputy Commissioner Vinoth Priya R told TNIE. The DC said the test results of the MP’s daughter were collected by district health authorities and sent to Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences on March 22.

The test turned out to be positive for COVID-19 and she was shifted to the isolation ward at Chigateri district hospital in Davanagere. This is the first positive case in Chitradurga.The patient, who is the wife of an Indian Diplomat in Guyana, complained of flu-like symptoms and remained self-quarantined at her house at Bheemasamudra. Her condition was informed to the health department, which collected her samples and forwarded it to the SIMS for tests, results of which arrived on Tuesday evening.

The DC said that samples of family members including the two children, and those working at the MP’s house would be collected and sent for testing to ensure proper protocol is followed. The administration has declared a ‘red zone of a 5km radius around Siddeshwara’s house at Bheemasamudra. DHO Dr Palaksha said that the patient is not suffering any serious problems and is normal. However, we have put her in the isolation ward of Chigateri District Hospital in Davangere, he said.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 6,2020

Mangaluru, May 6: Amidst delay in repatriation of Kannadigas stuck in Gulf countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the office bearers, the executive committee and members of the Bearys Chamber of Commerce & Industry, its president Mr S M Rasheed Haji and executive committee member U T Ifthikar Ali today (May 6) called on authorities concerned in Dakshina Kannada to persuade them to follow up with the State and Central level authorities.  

The duo met Nalin Kumar Kateel, Dakshina Kannada MP, who immediately contacted Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, over phone and urged him to take up the issue with the external affairs ministry. Mr Joshi told Mr Kateel that efforts are still underway to bring back Kannadigas stranded in Gulf countries. However flights schedules are yet to be finalised.

The duo then met Kota Srinivas Poojary, district in-charge minister, who said that the government is prepared to handle the repatriation flights and passengers. 

The duo also met IAS officer Rahul Shinde, who is in-charge of affairs related to international passengers coming to Dakshina Kannada amid covid-19 crisis. Meanwhile, Zakariya Jokatte, president of Jubail unit of BCCI, spoke to Mr Shindhe over phone.

The official explained that the govt has made elaborate arrangements to conduct medical test of passengers on arrival at the Mangaluru International Airport. 

The passengers will be categorised into A, B and C groups depending on their symptoms and co-morbid conditions. The category A passengers (symptomatic passengers) will be sent to isolation hospitals which may be Covid care centres. Category B passengers (asymptomatic but suffering from co-morbid conditions) will be quarantined at hotels, hostels, guest houses etc. Category C passengers (asymptomatic and healthy) will be home quarantined.

The minister and official also sought BCCI’s cooperation in handling the situation. 

Quarantine accommodation facility 

Yenepoya group has already offered two of their hotels as quarantine accommodation and promised to offer one more.  Entrepreneur U Kanachur Monu and many others too have offered their hotels as quarantine accommodation in Mangaluru. 

District administration has asked Treebo, a hotel aggregator to list such willing facilities on their website.

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