Look back over the last twenty years of terrorism in India, and one pattern jumps out: time and again, the trail leads investigators back to Hyderabad and the wider Telugu states. From the 2007 Mecca Masjid bombing to the most recent Red Fort blast conspiracy, Hyderabad keeps surfacing—not just as a backdrop, but as a hub where recruitment, radicalization, and operational planning happen. When police arrested a Hyderabad-based doctor in connection with a sophisticated terror plot involving ricin (Castor beans oil) and weapons delivered by drone, it wasn’t some one-off event. It was just the latest in a long, unsettling series. Over and over, no matter where an attack takes place, you find Hyderabad in the network.
The November 2025 car bombing near Delhi’s Red Fort—thirteen dead, a nation stunned—only deepened these concerns. Investigators uncovered a web stretching from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Pulwama, Faridabad, and right back to Hyderabad. This wasn’t an isolated case. If you map out the big terror attacks of the last two decades, Hyderabad keeps showing up as a key node in the plot, whether or not the violence itself hits the city.
Red Fort Plot: Hyderabad’s Role Comes Into Focus
Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorism Squad, working with central intelligence, exposed a radical module tied to both Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). At the heart of it: four doctors from Hyderabad, Pulwama, and Faridabad. The Hyderabad doctor wasn’t just running errands—he was the architect. Police say he produced ricin in significant amounts and scouted sensitive targets in Delhi, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad. They caught him carrying two Glock pistols, a Beretta, thirty bullets, and four liters of castor oil (the raw material for ricin, which can kill quickly and has no antidote). According to investigators, he took orders straight from Abu Khadija, a key ISKP leader in Afghanistan. It’s a stark reminder: Hyderabad-based operatives aren’t working in a vacuum. They have direct lines to international terror masterminds.
Timeline of Terror: Hyderabad at the Center
2002: Dilsukhnagar Blast. November 21. A bomb in a scooter explodes near the Sai Baba temple in Dilsukhnagar, injuring ten people. Police pinned the attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Two local Muslim youths, allegedly involved, were killed in separate police shootouts.
2005: Task Force Office Attack. October 12. A bomb rips through the city’s task force office in Somajiguda, just 100 meters from Chief Minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy’s official residence. Two people die.
2007: Mecca Masjid Blast. May 18. A cellphone-triggered pipe bomb explodes inside Mecca Masjid during Friday prayers, killing sixteen—nine in the blast, five more shot by police trying to control the furious crowds. Police find two more live IEDs and defuse them. The bomb itself was sophisticated: cyclotol (a mix of RDX and TNT) packed tightly in a metal pipe, designed for mass casualties. The investigation took wild turns. First, agencies suspected Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (Huji) from Bangladesh, led by Shahid and Bilal—Shahid supposedly recruiting from Hyderabad and hiding out in Karachi.
2007: Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Blasts. On August 25, 2007, Hyderabad shook with two powerful explosions. The first tore through Lumbini Park, right by the state Secretariat during a crowded laser show. Minutes later, another blast hit Gokul Chat, a busy eatery in Koti. Forty-two people lost their lives. The next day, police scrambled across the city, finding 19 unexploded bombs—at bus stops, outside cinemas, at road junctions, even on pedestrian bridges. Investigators quickly suspected the banned Bangladeshi group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, the same network linked to the Mecca Masjid blast earlier that year. The sheer scale—21 bombs in all—laid bare how deeply terror networks had burrowed into Hyderabad. Six years later, in September 2013, Yasin Bhatkal, a senior Indian Mujahideen operative, confessed. He said IM bombed those sites in August 2007 to avenge the Mecca Masjid blast. It was tit-for-tat violence, dragging Hyderabad further into a cycle it couldn’t escape.
2013: Dilsukhnagar Blasts. On February 21, 2013, two bombs exploded in Dilsukhnagar, barely 100 meters apart. The first hit outside A1 Mirchi eatery. Two minutes later, the second went off near the Route 107 bus stand. Seventeen people died. More than eighty-three were hurt. During the investigation, Indian Mujahideen operative Maqbool admitted he’d scouted Dilsukhnagar the year before. Justice, slow as ever, finally arrived. In December 2016, an NIA special court sentenced Yasin Bhatkal, Pakistani national Zia-ur-Rahman, Asadullah Akhtar, Tahaseen Akhtar, and Ajaz Shaikh to death for the attacks. The Telangana High Court confirmed those sentences on April 8, 2025, calling the case “rarest of the rare.”
2025: ISIS Module Uncovered. May 2025 brought another close call. Police arrested Siraj Ur Rehman, 29, and Syed Sameer, 28, who they suspected had links to an ISIS module operating out of Saudi Arabia. Siraj had already sourced explosives from Vizianagaram; the pair was reportedly getting ready to test them before picking a final target. This incident came just after the Pahalgam terror attack, serving as a stark reminder: Hyderabad still stands in the crosshairs for terror outfits looking to carve out a foothold in India.
Mujahideen Factor: Hyderabad as Operational Base
Indian Mujahideen began as an offshoot of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Founders like Iqbal Bhatkal, Riyaz Bhatkal, Yasin Bhatkal, Abdul Subhan Qureshi, and Amir Reza Khan—most of them radicalized within SIMI—were key in shaping its early strategy. Yasin Bhatkal didn’t just set up terror modules in places like Darbhanga and Ranchi. He also turned Hyderabad into a crucial base, using the city both for planning and as a launchpad for attacks. Authorities link him directly to at least ten major bombings: 2008 and 2011 in Delhi, 2010 in Varanasi, and the deadly 2013 blasts in Hyderabad.
The National Investigation Agency makes it clear, that Bhatkal and his network built cells in Delhi, Darbhanga, Nanded, Mumbai, Pune, Bhatkal, and Hyderabad. Hyderabad stands out as one of the main nodes in Indian Mujahideen’s operations, not just a side location. Even today, intelligence reports show the group still has sympathizers scattered across Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Meanwhile, the ISI looks for opportunities to revive the IM brand, using it to strike in India while keeping its own fingerprints off the violence.
SIMI-to-IM Pipeline: Hyderabad’s Role
When India banned SIMI in 2001, it didn’t stamp out jihadist activity—instead, it pushed networks underground. These groups got smarter, more disciplined, and harder to catch. Between 2005 and 2011, police and intelligence services struggled to contain a wave of urban terrorism. One striking example: in October 2019, police finally caught Azharuddin (alias Chemical Ali), a SIMI suspect tied to the 2013 Bodh Gaya and Patna blasts. He landed in Hyderabad from Saudi Arabia, and authorities picked him up at the airport. Investigators believe he sheltered terrorists behind the Bihar attacks. His arrest showed that Hyderabad still serves as a vital transit point and safe haven for operatives, even when the actual attacks happen hundreds of miles away.
Why Hyderabad? Examining the Vulnerabilities
Geography - Sitting right in the Deccan, Hyderabad connects easily to several states. Its railways, highways, and airport make the city perfect for moving people and materials without drawing too much attention.
Demographics - The old city, especially around Charminar, hosts a large Muslim community. For extremist recruiters, this means a bigger pool to blend into and, at times, exploit—though it’s crucial to remember that nearly everyone in these neighborhoods wants nothing to do with terrorism and suffers from it like everyone else.
Education and Healthcare - Hyderabad is packed with engineering and medical colleges. These institutions churn out technically skilled youth—exactly the kind of recruits terror groups target. Several doctors have even surfaced in recent plots.
Urban Anonymity - In a city this big and fast-growing, it’s easy to disappear. Operatives can rent safe houses, plan attacks, and move around without standing out.
International Links - The city’s IT boom and international airport make it easy for operatives to travel to the Gulf and beyond. This opens doors to handlers in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or even ISIS-controlled zones.
Porous Borders - Telangana shares loose borders with Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. This makes it easy for suspects to slip from one state to another, frustrating law enforcement efforts.
Telugu States and Terror Investigations
Hyderabad isn’t the only place under the microscope. The wider Telugu-speaking region appears in case after case. In the 2025 ISIS module investigation, for example, police traced explosive materials back to Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh—proof that these networks stretch far beyond the city. Terror groups often recruit from poorer districts in both Telugu states, preying on joblessness and a sense of alienation among young people.
Medical Professional Angle: A Disturbing Trend
The recent Red Fort conspiracy involving multiple doctors represents a particularly troubling dimension. Eight people, including three doctors, were arrested with 2,900 kg of explosives seized in the uncovering of a "white collar" terror module involving Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, spanning Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and with Hyderabad connections. Dr. Muzammil Ganaie and Dr. Shaheen Sayeed, both connected to Al-Falah University in Faridabad, were arrested, with Shaheen allegedly leading Jaish-e-Mohammed's women recruitment wing in India, heading the Jamaat-ul-Mominat. The involvement of medical professionals—educated, economically stable individuals—challenges simplistic narratives about poverty driving terrorism and suggests ideological radicalization transcends class boundaries.
