<p>Afghanistan's intelligence has arrested an ISI-linked Pakistani ISIS militant who was the mastermind behind the attack on a Kabul gurdwara last month that left 27 people including an Indian citizen dead.</p>.<p>Abdullah Orakzai alias Aslam Farooqi, a key leader of ISIS' Khorasan branch, was arrested along with 19 of his associates during a "complex operation" by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in the country's southern province of Kandahar on Saturday, TOLO News reported.</p>.<p>A native of Pakistan's restive northwestern Orakzai agency, he was "enjoying close relations" with Pakistan-based terror groups such as the Haqqani network and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the NDS said in a statement.</p>.<p>Farooqi was appointed as ISIS' shadow governor in Afghanistan after the killing of Abu Saeed Bajawri, according to the statement.</p>.<p>He was operating as the commander of ISIS' military wing in Peshawar and was deployed in Abdul Khel valley of Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, it said.</p>.<p>Speaking on condition of anonymity, an NDS official told AFP that Farooqi was the mastermind behind an ISIS-claimed attack on the gurdwara in Kabul last month.</p>.<p>The attack claimed the lives of 27 people including an Indian citizen.</p>.<p>The NDS further said that Farooqi has confessed to having links with "regional intelligence agencies", a reference to Pakistan's spy agency ISI which has been regularly blamed by Afghanistan of carrying out terror attacks in the country.</p>.<p>Nearly 150 people were inside the gurdwara when the attack took place.</p>.<p>Tian Singh, a resident of Greater Kailash Part-1 in New Delhi, was also killed in the attack whose responsibility was claimed by banned Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an offshoot of ISIS.</p>.<p>India's premier investigation agency the NIA on April 1 registered its first overseas case and will probe the terror strike on the gurdwara.</p>.<p>An NIA spokesman has said that according to the preliminary investigation, Mohammed Muhsin (28), a resident of Thrikaripur town in Kerala's Kasargod district, and others who had joined ISKP, are suspected to have been involved in the attack.</p>.<p>His parents had claimed that they received a message from the ISIS confirming his death during the attack, the official said.</p>.<p>A school dropout, Muhsin is believed to have landed in Afghanistan as a member of ISIS in the Khorasan province, the official added.</p>
<p>Afghanistan's intelligence has arrested an ISI-linked Pakistani ISIS militant who was the mastermind behind the attack on a Kabul gurdwara last month that left 27 people including an Indian citizen dead.</p>.<p>Abdullah Orakzai alias Aslam Farooqi, a key leader of ISIS' Khorasan branch, was arrested along with 19 of his associates during a "complex operation" by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in the country's southern province of Kandahar on Saturday, TOLO News reported.</p>.<p>A native of Pakistan's restive northwestern Orakzai agency, he was "enjoying close relations" with Pakistan-based terror groups such as the Haqqani network and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the NDS said in a statement.</p>.<p>Farooqi was appointed as ISIS' shadow governor in Afghanistan after the killing of Abu Saeed Bajawri, according to the statement.</p>.<p>He was operating as the commander of ISIS' military wing in Peshawar and was deployed in Abdul Khel valley of Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, it said.</p>.<p>Speaking on condition of anonymity, an NDS official told AFP that Farooqi was the mastermind behind an ISIS-claimed attack on the gurdwara in Kabul last month.</p>.<p>The attack claimed the lives of 27 people including an Indian citizen.</p>.<p>The NDS further said that Farooqi has confessed to having links with "regional intelligence agencies", a reference to Pakistan's spy agency ISI which has been regularly blamed by Afghanistan of carrying out terror attacks in the country.</p>.<p>Nearly 150 people were inside the gurdwara when the attack took place.</p>.<p>Tian Singh, a resident of Greater Kailash Part-1 in New Delhi, was also killed in the attack whose responsibility was claimed by banned Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), an offshoot of ISIS.</p>.<p>India's premier investigation agency the NIA on April 1 registered its first overseas case and will probe the terror strike on the gurdwara.</p>.<p>An NIA spokesman has said that according to the preliminary investigation, Mohammed Muhsin (28), a resident of Thrikaripur town in Kerala's Kasargod district, and others who had joined ISKP, are suspected to have been involved in the attack.</p>.<p>His parents had claimed that they received a message from the ISIS confirming his death during the attack, the official said.</p>.<p>A school dropout, Muhsin is believed to have landed in Afghanistan as a member of ISIS in the Khorasan province, the official added.</p>