Delhi Bomber Had Made Radical Videos, Took Online Sessions On Suicide Bombing: Sources

Dr Umar Mohammad, alias Umar-un-Nabi, the man behind the blast near Delhi's Red Fort that killed 15 people, had made several radical videos to influence and recruit people during the last few months, sources said. Security agencies have recovered 12 such videos from the suicide bomber's phone.

The suicide bomber's videos focused on promoting extremist ideology. Some of them revolved around topics such as "If a handful of Afghan Mujahideen and Taliban can defeat and overthrow world superpowers like Russia and America, you can too". He often talked about the dominance of Islam over other faiths, sources said. In one such clip, Umar said, "Right now you might be lying low, but if you have faith in Allah and yourself, you can defeat India".

Umar - who was recruited into the white collar terror module by other suspects in Haryana's Al-Falah University - shared other videos by radical Islamists with a group of people he was interacting with through encrypted apps.

Umar had also shared the videos with Jasir Bilal, an "active co-conspirator" in the Delhi blast. Chats revealed that Bilal was initially hesitant in being a part of the attack; however, the videos seemed to brainwash him, sources said.

According to sources, Umar used to take online sessions about suicide bombing to motivate his group members. It is suspected that Umar's video that surfaced earlier this week, glorifying suicide bombings, may be a part of the online sessions where he is responding to a query by one of the participants.

A chilling video showed Umar, sitting inside a house wearing a grey t-shirt, calling suicide bombing a "misunderstood concept". Speaking English articulately and with an accent, he said, "One of the very misunderstood concepts is the concept of what has been labelled as suicide bombing. It is a martyrdom operation... known in Islam. Now, there are multiple contradictions; there are multiple arguments that have been brought against it."

Justifying the heinous act, the bomber added that a "martyrdom" operation is one in which a person presumes that he is going to die at a particular place and time. Umar can also be heard saying that no one can predict exactly when or where they will die, and that it will happen if it is destined.

"Don't fear death," he said.

As the clip went viral on social media, it was taken down from all platforms under Meta as it goes against their terms and rules, the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg said.

A white Hyundai i20 exploded near the Red Fort last week, with DNA tests confirming Umar as the suicide bomber.

The incident took place on a day when 2,900 kg of explosives were found just 50 km from the capital, in neighbouring Haryana's Faridabad. According to sources, Umar likely panicked and triggered the blast after investigators arrested two key members of the module, Dr Muzammil Shakeel and Dr Adil Rather - both residents of Kashmir - and seized the explosives.