The Hindu : Front Page : Six militants involved in attacks on IISc, CRPF camp held in Uttar Pradesh

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Monday, Feb 11, 2008
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Six militants involved in attacks on IISc, CRPF camp held in Uttar Pradesh

Atiq Khan

They planned terror strikes at Churchgate and the stock exchange in Mumbai

Photo: PTI

TERROR MODULE BUSTED: Militants being produced before the media in Lucknow on Sunday. —

LUCKNOW: Six Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists, who were involved in the terror attacks on the CRPF Group Centre in Rampur and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, were arrested in Rampur and here late on Saturday night and early hours of Sunday by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

While eight persons, including seven CRPF personnel, were killed in the January 1 Rampur attack, one scientist died and few others injured in the Bangalore attack on December 29, 2005 during a seminar in the J.N. Tata auditorium.

Fahim Ahmed Ansari alias Abu Zaraar alias Saquib, Mohammad Sharif alias Mohammad Anwar and Jang Bahadur alias Baba were arrested in Rampur around 12.15 a.m. on Sunday and Mohammad Sabahuddin alias Abu Qasim alias Sameer Singh, Amar Singh alias Abu Jaar and Abu Osama alias Aavesh, were detained at the Charbagh Railway Station tempo stand here at around 6.30 a.m. on Sunday.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Vikram Singh said Pakistan nationals Amar Singh alias Abu Zaar and Abu Osama, who played a major role in the Rampur and Bangalore attacks, planned terror strikes at Churchgate in Mumbai, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Army convoys in Rampur and Bareilly.

The STF claimed to have seized three railway tickets, dated February 11, for journey from Agra to Mumbai, and two tickets for travel from Delhi to Mumbai on February 12. Maps of Mumbai were also seized from the arrested persons, besides huge quantity of arms and ammunition, three Pakistani passports and an AK-47 rifle.

Mr. Singh said the Bangalore and Mumbai police were informed about the arrests and a joint interrogation would be held soon. He, however, denied that the militants planned to target VVIPs.

Initial interrogation showed that before the Rampur attack, the ultras were given training in intelligence gathering and handling explosives for about a month by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Reconnaissance was done by Jang Bahadur alias Baba. Mohammad Sharif, Mohammad Sabahuddin and Abu Saama killed the seven CRPF personnel sitting around a fireplace and hurled grenades, while Abu Zaar provided the cover fire.

Of the three arrested here, Mohammad Sabahuddin was trained by the ISI and LeT in Pakistan before settling down in Patna. In 2004, he met Lashkar commander Abdul Aziz, who asked him to take a room on rent in Bangalore and inform the LeT chief. He enrolled himself as a student in a college in Bangalore and rented a one-room house near the college. Acting on instructions, he went to Kathmandu and came back with Hamza, who led the attack.

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