'Al-Qaeda cell' busted in New Delhi

Delhi police have busted a suspected al-Qaeda cell and arrested a founder member of the jihadist group's India wing, officials said yesterday.

Police said they had arrested "radical extremist" Mohammed Asif, 41, who allegedly led the group's recruitment and training wing in India and was a founder member of al-Qaeda on the subcontinent.

Two others were also arrested in the case, one for allegedly attempting to radicalise students at a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh state and another for financing the group's activities, Press Trust of India reported.

In September 2014 al-Qaeda announced it had set up a new branch on the Indian subcontinent seeking to invigorate its waning Islamist extremist movement.

India placed several states on high alert after the group launched the new branch to "wage jihad" in South Asia.

Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri said at the time the new operation would take the fight to Myanmar, Bangladesh and India, which has a large but traditionally moderate Muslim population.