Islamabad:Â Prime Minister Narendra Modi was briefed by his security advisors after a Pakistani Taliban group behind the suicide bombing at Wagah mentioned him in a tweet and spoke of “revenge.”
“This attack is an open message to both governments across the border,” tweeted Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesperson for the splinter group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat Ahrar (TTP-JA). “If we can attack this side, the other side could also be attacked,” he said in Urdu.
He also tweeted in English: “You (Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) are the killer of hundreds of Muslims. We will take the revenge of innocent people of Kashmir and Gugrat (sic).”
The authenticity of the tweets could not be immediately verified and then did not show on Ehsan’s Twitter page as of Wednesday morning.
Intelligence and security officials in Delhi say they believe that Sunday’s attack at the Wagah border was a clear message that the Pakistani Taliban group intends to target India.
On Tuesday, India’s Navy withdrew two warships from the eastern port of Kolkata after intelligence agencies warned of an attack on the port and the city.
Over 60 Pakistanis were killed on Sunday after a suicide attack at the main land border crossing at Wagah. More than 100 people were wounded by the explosion that ripped through a car park about 500 metres from Pakistan’s border gate just as hundreds of people were leaving after the popular flag-lowering ceremony that takes place every evening on both sides of the border.
TTP-JA is a new outfit that broke away from the mainstream Taliban movement in September and has announced its support for the militant group Islamic State fighting in Iraq and Syria. Â
In September, Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, said to be close to TTP-JA, has announced the creation of a South Asia wing of Al Qaeda, threatening to stage attacks on countries across the subcontinent.
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