ISI recruits 10-year-olds for jihad: IB

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence has instructed terror modules in India to begin recruiting boys for the cause of jihad from the time they are 10 years old, claims an Intelligence Bureau report.

These groups are called the White Falcons.

Intelligence sources told rediff.com that according to the indoctrination process, these boys are not trained in using arms, but gradually conditioned to follow the path of jihad.

The modules are instructed to look for preachers and educationists who approve of the ISI's agenda to train these boys.

The sources say at least 5,000 Indian boys are part of the White Falcons. The IB report also details how the ISI has structured its operations in India.

If the White Falcon groups are the lowest rung, the other groups are named the Tauqeers, Call of Jihad, Ikhwans and Ansars.

Tauqeers are the 12 people who form the core group that reports directly to the ISI. These people are usually leaders of various terrorist outfits floated and backed by the ISI like the Jaish-e-Mohammed. Sources said Students Islamic Movement of India chief Safdar Nagori was one of the Tauqeers.

Below the Tauqueers is a group called the Call of Jihad. This group has around 15,000 to 20,000 members who are concentrated mostly in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Kerala.

Members of the Call of Jihad group identify people who can be recruited and collect funds. This group reports to the Tauqueers who direct their efforts.

The members, who are appointed by members of the Call of Jihad group and are approved by a Tauqueer, are part of a group known as the Ikhwans.

IB sources believe the Ikhwans number 6,000. Fahim Ansari, the man who surveyed likely targets in Mumbai for the 26/11 attacks, was an Ikhwan.

These men generally constitute sleeper cells and become active just before terror attacks. The Ikhwans take instructions from a group called the Ansars.

The Ansars are mainly involved in the execution part of a terror strike. The men who plant the bombs or undertake a suicide missions are usually Ansars.