Al Qaeda hacks Indian Railways website; encourages Muslims to join Jihad

A message by Maulana Aasim Umar, Al Qaeda chief in south Asia, was left on the website

Terror outfit Al Qaeda on Tuesday allegedly hacked a microsite of the Railnet page of the Indian Railway to show its sinister reach for the first time. It later left the page.

The hacked page of Bhusawal division of Personnel Department of the Central Railway and part of a large intranet created for the department's administrative needs, was replaced by a message of Maulana Aasim Umar, Al Qaeda chief in south Asia, for all Indian Muslims.

"Why is there no storm in your ocean? A message for Muslims of India from Maulana Aasim Umar (May Allah protect him)," read the message.

An attached 11-page document on the hacked page read, "Will the land of Delhi not give birth to a Shah Muhadith Delhvi who may once again teach the Muslims of India the forgotten lesson of Jihad and inspire them to take to the battlefields of Jihad?"

"Is there no successor left of the group that drenched itself in blood at Balakot, who possesses the spirit of rising in rebellion against a system based on disbelief and offering one's life for Allah?," the message said.

Through the message, the Muslims in India were encouraged to participate in 'jihad' and help defeat the United States and its allies.

Umar was a resident of Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh and was appointed chief of the Al Qaeda in the Indian sub-continent (AQIS) last year.

Umar, also known as Sanaul Haq, allegedly joined the jihadist circle after the Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992. Educated at the famous Dar-ul-Uloom seminary at Deoband, from where he graduated in 1991, Umar, investigators say, disappeared from Sambhal in 1995.