Turkey Links, Saudi Funding and Pakistan Terror Groups Raise Fresh India Security Concerns

Red Fort suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi and his associate Muzammil Shakil had met their Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind handlers when they travelled to Ankara in 2022.

At least 15 innocents were killed and another 20 injured in the November 10, 2025 bombing when Nabi blew himself up using unstable TATP explosive outside Red Fort Metro Station, opposite the real target, Gauri Shankar Temple in Chandni Chowk.

The involvement of Turkey-based operatives in terror activities against India had also come under scrutiny earlier. In August 2022, the Russian intelligence agency FSB detained a terrorist who had been recruited by an Islamic State leader in Turkey to conduct a suicide bombing in India.

The Russian FSB, which shared bare minimum details with India, identified the bomber as a Central Asian native who was first radicalized online and then trained in suicide bombing in Istanbul, Turkey, by an unidentified IS representative.

The involvement of Turkey-based operatives in terror attacks against India is a matter of serious concern as it adds to the threat from Pakistan-based Sunni terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

Pakistan-based terror groups have also been known to raise funds in Saudi Arabia in the first decade. One example is Hyderabad-born Mahmoud Ahmed Bahaziq, who used to collect funds for Pakistan-based LeT in Saudi Arabia. Bahaziq was declared a UN-designated terrorist in 2008.

This was also the period during which the Pakistani deep state used Indian pilgrims travelling to Saudi Arabia to radicalize them for attacks in the Indian hinterland. A number of persons from the Indian diaspora were recruited by Pakistan in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf for attacks against India in the name of the 2002 Gujarat riots.

While Saudi Arabian authorities clamped down on Pakistan's deep state activities in their country against India, the Mecca pact could bring the three Sunni nations very close to each other. As a result, Pakistan-based terror groups targeting India could expand their activities in Riyadh, including fundraising for terror attacks.

The role played by the Pakistani deep state in securing Saudi money for Afghanistan in the 1990s in the name of bustard hunting also remains significant. It was this funding that led to the rise of Al Qaida in Afghanistan and LeT and JeM terror camps in Khost, Jalalabad and Kandahar.

Whether this cycle will repeat is a billion-dollar question, but Indian agencies will have to remain alert to such situations in the future.