According to an unnamed intelligence official, Daesh also instructed its Indian followers to film the hacking attacks on mobile cameras so they could be posted online afterwards to create a maximum impact on Indians and the international community.
Additionally, the use of cold steel arms in terror attacks could help perpetrators minimize the risk of being caught by authorities, the official added.
“IS modules and lone wolves here are being told by their handlers not to risk gathering explosives, assembling IEDs or illegally buying automatic weapons for attacks,” he said to the Times of India. “Instead, all they need to do is buy big chopping knives or machetes, which would neither raise suspicion nor involve a huge cost.”
The NIA unveiled that the suspects were going to use machetes in their planned attack.
"Though they were discussing targeting Jews the plan, as per our assessment, was to hack foreigners to death in tourist hotspots in Kerala and Tamil Nadu," an intelligence officer said.
“IS handlers have been encouraging Indian contacts to work in smaller groups with minimal inter-connectivity. This is to escape surveillance and minimize arrests in case a module is detected," an intelligence officer said.
According to the NIA, such an attack was carried out in Bangladeshi capital Dhaka in July, when a group of gunmen barged into a café killing 22 people. They were reported to have filmed their attack.
