Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Varanasi blasts: Terrorist Waliullah Khan sentenced to death

2022-06-08

[OneIndia] A local court on Monday sentenced terror convict Waliullah Khan to death for serial blasts in Varanasi that killed at least 20 people 16 years back.

District Sessions Judge Jitendra Kumar Sinha convicted Khan on Saturday but had held back the pronouncement on the quantum of punishment for the blasts in 2006 at Varanasi's Sankat Mochan Hanuman temple and a railway station.

On Monday, Khan was brought to the district court from Dasna Jail under tight security, overseen by a deputy superintendent of police.

The court also sentenced Khan to life imprisonment on an attempt to murder charge and ordered him to pay fines. The death sentence

...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...
will have to be confirmed by the Allahabad High Court.

A special task force had claimed in 2006 that Khan was linked to Bangladesh-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Jehad al-Islami

...(HuJI), along with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) one of the Deobandi jihad groups set up by Pakistan’s ISI to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, after which the Bangladeshi branch sent Al Qaeda big turban Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri to lead its Jammu & Kashmir effort. After he met an inquisitive American Predator, some Taliban big turban took over the assignment. HuJI not only lends personnel to LeT and JeM, but provided ministers to the first Taliban government as well...

and was the criminal mastermind behind the blasts.

The first blast took place at 6.15 pm on March 7, 2006 inside the crowded Sankat Mochan temple in the Lanka cop shoppe area. After 15 minutes, a bomb went kaboom! outside the first-class retiring room at Varanasi Cantonment railway station.

At least 20 people were killed and about 100 injured in the two explosions.

The same day, a pressure cooker bomb was also found near the railings of a railway crossing in Dashashwamedh cop shoppe area.

Khan was convicted in two cases lodged under the Indian Penal Code sections of murder and attempt to murder, and under the Explosives Act, district government counsel Rajesh Sharma earlier told PTI.

He was acquitted in a third case due to lack of evidence, he said.

Lawyers in Varanasi had refused to plead the case and the Allahabad High Court transferred it to the Ghaziabad district court.

In all three cases, 121 witnesses were produced before the court.

Link

India-Pakistan

Plot to kill Hindus in Bengaluru, Nanded, Hyderabad: NIA charges two Lashkar operatives

2021-02-23

The NIA are still working this case dating back to 2012.

[OneIndia] The National Investigation Agency has filed a chargesheet in connection with a Lashkar-e-Tayiba conspiracy case.

The NIA filed the chargesheet against, Dr. Sabeel Ahmed alias Motu Doctor of Bengaluru and Assadullah Khan of Hyderabad.

The case pertains to the conspiracy hatched by the members of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Harkat-ul-Jihadi Islami to commit subversive activities and wage war against Government of India.

They had procured illegal arms and ammunition for assassinations of important personalities of Hindu community in Bangalore and Hubli in Karnataka, Nanded in Maharashtra and in Hyderabad, Telangana to disturb the communal harmony and strike terror in society.

Investigation established that accused persons Dr.Sabeel Ahmed and Asadulla Khan are members of proscribed terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Tayiba. They were involved in criminal conspiracy along with other accused persons in supporting and furthering the cause of outfit in Damam and Riyadh, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
. They had actively participated in conspiracy meetings in which terrorist activities like assassinations of important personalities of Hindu community in Bangalore and Hubli in Karnataka and Nanded in Maharashtra were planned.

The background:

Dr Motu was a mysterious character when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) started its probe into an liquidation plot at Bengaluru.

According to the details of this plot, a group of boys had decided on targeting several Hindu leaders and journalists.

Further probing found that the plot extended to Telangana and Maharashtra as well.

During the course of the investigation, it came to light that a doctor based in Saudi Arabia was also part of the plot.

The various transcripts that the Sherlocks collected found that this person was being referred to as Dr Motu.

The NIA had claimed that this person was Dr Sabeel Ahmed, the brother of Kafeel Ahmed an accused in the Glasgow (UK) terror plot.

...the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack with what would have been a nasty car bomb, had it actually exploded, with a connected set of car bombs that also did not go off in London. It might easily have been called a doctors’ plot, given how many of those arrested were MDs. The whole thing was a project of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent, with handlers in Saudi Arabia...

Dr Sabeel Ahmed who was also questioned in connection with the Glasgow attack was deported to India after that incident.

When the NIA had identified Dr Motu for the first time and it was reported in the media, there was a denial issued by him. He had said that he was given to understand that he had taken part in some meetings in Riyadh in connection with this plot.

This is a ridiculous allegation against me and I deny all the charges he had said at that time.

The NIA in its chargesheet states that Dr Sabeel Ahmed was a key player in the plot.

The NIA accuses him of being part of meetings and also making financial and logistic support in connection with this plot.

In all the NIA has named 25 persons in the chargesheet on the ground that they were planning on killing Hindu leaders in Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra.

Hindustan Times adds:

According to NIA, the case was initially registered by the police in Bengaluru on August 29, 2012,

...the mills of justice grinding very slowly indeed, on this one...

and pertains to conspiracy hatched by members of LeT and Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI) to commit subversive activities and wage war against India.

It was taken over by the NIA on November 25, 2012. The agency chargesheeted 17 people in the case after investigation.

The NIA said that the two people named today were involved in criminal conspiracy along with other accused in supporting and furthering the cause of the terror groups in Damam and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They had also actively participated in meetings in which activities like targeted killings of important personalities of Hindu community were planned, it further added.

The NIA special court had convicted 13 accused people in 2016; they were sentenced to five-year imprisonment.

While trial is continuing against three accused, further investigation against six absconding accused persons continues.

Link

India-Pakistan

Banned DeM operates freely in Kashmir

2017-06-10

[THENORTHLINES] SRINAGAR: Dukhtaran-e-Milat led by Asiya Andrabi figures among the 36 bully boy groups in the banned list, framed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Despite being banned, the group is operating in the valley and also running the office.

The NIA last Saturday raided houses of several Hurriyat leaders in connection with a case of alleged funding received by separatist groups for carrying out subversive activities in the valley. However,
there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly...
none from the separatist camp except the DeM figures in the banned list of 36 organizations by the NIA for carrying out "unlawful activities". In its official website, the NIA has put the DeM led by Asiya Andrabi under "Schedule I ‐ First Schedule (of the UA (P) Act, 1967) Terrorist Organisations".

According to the Act, "Any association can be declared unlawful if the central government is of the opinion that any association is, or has become an unlawful, it may by notification in the official gazette declare such association to be unlawful".

DeM is an all women outfit, was founded in 1987, and has been advocating to separate J&K from India.

It chief Asiya Andrabi was tossed in the calaboose
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
from her Soura residence on April 27, and booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

The grounds of PSA order prepared by the police call Asiya a "diehard secessionist" whose "endeavour is to secede the state of J&K from union of India and in order to achieve it she has indulged in anti-national activities and has played an important role in 2008 Amarnath agitation and also in 2010 and 2016 summer unrest by announcing programs/rallies with secessionist elements".

In the NIA’s banned list, there are some of the bully boy groups who have or are operating in the valley like Hizb-ul-Mujahideen/ Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Pir Panjal Regiment, Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
/Tahrik-e-Furqan, Jammu and Kashmire Islamic Front, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen/Harkat-ul-Ansar/Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami and Lashkar-E-Taiba/Pasban-E-Ahle Hadis.

Besides that there are groups like Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Commando Force, Khalistan Zindabad Force, International Sikh Youth Federation, al-Umar-Mujahideen, United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) in Assam, People’s Liberation Army (PLA), United National Liberation Front (UNLF), People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK), Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP), Kanglei Yaol Kanba Lup (KYKL), Manipur People’s Liberation Front (MPLF), All Tripura Tiger Force, National Liberation Front of Tripura, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Students Islamic Movement of India, Deendar Anjuman, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) -People’s War, Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), Al Badr, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, al-Qaeda, Tamil Nadu Liberation Army (TNLA), Tamil National Retrieval Troops (TNRT), Akhil Bharat Nepali Ekta Samaj (ABNES), Communist Party of India (Maoist), Indian Mujahideen
A locally recruited auxilliary of Pakistain's Lashkar-e-Taiba, designed to give a domestic patina to Pakistain's terror war against its bigger neighbor...
, and Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) which too figures in the banned list.

Link

India-Pakistan

Journalist among 11 arrested for Karnataka terror plot

2012-08-31

[India Express] A JUNIOR software engineer in the Defence Research Development Organization and a journalist working for a leading local English daily are among 11 people tossed in the clink
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
by the Bangalore police in an alleged terror plot to attack a Right-wing columnist in a prominent Kannada daily, Hindu leaders and politicians.

The Bangalore police's Central Crime Branch, acting on inputs from Andhra Pradesh counter-intelligence authorities gathered after several weeks of monitoring mobile phone activity, placed in long-term storage
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
six persons from Bangalore and five from the north Karnataka town of Hubli on August 29. Most of the tossed in the calaboose
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
have family links in Hubli.

Bangalore Police Commissioner Jyothi Prakash Mirji told a presser on Thursday that the tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
youth were in regular touch with Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
and Harkat-ul-Jehadi-al-Islami (HuJI)
Founded in 1984 by Fazlur Rehman Khalil and Qari Saifullah Aktar. The Bangla branch was established in 1992 with assistance from Osama bin Laden. Recruits come mostly from Deobandi madrassahs. HuJI and Fazlur Rehman Khalil are signators of bin Laden's declaration of war on the west.
operatives in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
in connection with the alleged plot.

A 7.65 mm pistol and seven bullets have been shown as recovered from the Bangalore house from where six of the 11 were tossed in the slammer
Please don't kill me!
on Wednesday evening.

Among them are Muthi-ur-Rehman Siddiqui, 26, a journalist who has been with Deccan Herald for the last three years, Ejaz Mohammed Mirza, 25, a junior engineer in DRDO, his brother Shoaib Ahmed Mirza, 25, a masters in computer applications, and Mohammed Yousuf Nalband, 28, an electrician.

The others tossed in the clink
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
from Bangalore are Abdullah alias Abdul Hakim Jamadar, 25 and Riyaz Ahmed Byahatti, 28.

Among the tossed in the clink
Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please!
from Hubli are Obaidullah Imran Bahadur, 24, Mohammed Sadiq Lashkar, 28, Waheed Hussain, 26, Mahaboob Bagalkote, 26, and Dr Jaffar Iqbal Sholapur.

Link

India-Pakistan

Kashmiri student held in Delhi high court blast

2011-10-07

NIA has arrested a Kashmiri medical student who is suspected of being a 'key link' in the conspiracy behind the Delhi high court bombing in September which killed 15 people. Wasim Ahmed, a student in Bangaldesh, was being questioned by the NIA in connection with the blast, according to official sources.

There was no official word on whether Wasim was arrested near the Indo-Bangladeshi border or the authorities in Dhaka had handed him over.

Wasim was also quizzed about the whereabouts of Hizbul Mujahideen operative Junaid Akram, thought to be one of the key conspirators in the Delhi blast.

From the leads being followed in the case so far, the investigators suspect that it could be the handiwork of Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen and not Harkat-ul-Jehad-Islami (HuJI) as earlier believed.

Information about Wasim was given by Azhar Ali, who has been incarcerated in Jammu since 2009, according to sources. An NIA team had questioned Ali, arrested for involvement in recruiting people from the Kishtawar area and obtaining SIM cards for the outfit, to learn about some of the youths including Akram he had allegedly sent for training to Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.

Though NIA claimed that Akram was in Pakistan, sources in the security agencies believed that he was in Jammu and Kashmir.

NIA has arrested Abid Abbas, a high school boy, on charges of sending an email after the high court blast. The probe agency had also detained Abbas's brother from Shillong who expressed complete ignorance about the matter.

"Brother, what brother?"

Link

Bangladesh

15 militant outfits active

2010-03-30

[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 foreign militant organisations were active or are still operating in Bangladesh since 1991 using the country as a safe shelter or transit to infiltrate neighbouring countries.

The organisations are Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Tehrik-e-Jehad-e-Islami-Kashmiri (TJI), Harkat-ul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Jehadul Islami, Hizb-ul Mujahideen (HuM), Hezbe Islami, Jamiatul Mujahideen, Harkatul Ansar, Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), India-based Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), Myanmar-based militant groups Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) and National United Party of Arakan (NUPA).

This was revealed from the statements of several detained foreign and local militants and insiders of different intelligence and law-enforcement agencies dealing with militancy.

Operatives of different foreign militant groups started visiting Bangladesh and spreading their tentacles with the help of banned local militant group Huji after the end of the Afghan war against Russian forces.

The militant organisations operated almost undisturbed from 1991 to 1998 and then between 2001 and 2005 under the nose of the local administration. "During the BNP-Jamaat rule activities of the foreign militants marked a serious rise under the nose of the administration. Some of them were held and later given a safe passage," says a law enforcer requesting anonymity.

Operatives of several groups used to visit Bangladesh from Pakistan and then India to commit their activities, while many from India also sneaked into Bangladesh and then visited Pakistan with fake Bangladeshi passports to

The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say.

have training on arms and explosives. Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Hassan Mahmood Khandkar said, "Now Bangladesh is no more a comfortable place for local or foreign militants as we constantly remain vigilant and go after militants upon instructions of the government."

The statements of detained militants also reveal agents of a Pakistani intelligence agency not only coordinated the militants' activities in Bangladesh but also provided them with necessary funds and training, sources say.

Now some militant groups are generating funds for them by selling counterfeit Indian currencies in India. The counterfeit currencies, especially Indian rupees and US dollars, are mainly forged in Pakistan and carried to Bangladesh via Dubai.

Then a strong syndicate of militants and criminals supply the fake currencies to India. "We've detected at least three such gangs having around 50 members. One of the gangs is led by Bangladeshi citizen Majumder, one by Pakistani citizen Sarfaraz and the other by another Pakistani named Mohammad Danish," says a top police official asking not to be identified. Recently, an international money transfer has been detected through which some fund came from Pakistan to detained Pakistani national Rezwan.

Law enforcers could not give a clear idea about how many foreign militant groups are active in Bangladesh. But recent arrests of over a dozen foreign militants belonging to LeT, JeM, HuM and ARCF suggest they are still active here, they say.

One of the Huji founders, Moulana Sheikh Abdus Salam, who is behind bars in connection with the August 21 carnage case, named during interrogation nine Pakistan-based militant organisations which mainly work in Kashmir but also had operated in Bangladesh.

The names of ARCF and LeT surfaced after the arrest of its leaders Indian citizens Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Monsur Ali in May last year. The ARCF used to work for LeT.

The recent arrest of Pakistani national Rezwan Ahmed who admitted at a press briefing of coordinating JeM activities in Bangladesh suggests the outfit is still active here.

The name of another Pakistan-based militant outfit Tehrik-ul Mujahideen came to notice from the confessional statement of executed Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) chief Abdur Rahman. Rahman had visited Pakistan more than once and met Tehrik-ul Mujahideen leader Jamilur Rahman, who gave JMB 60,000 rupees and another Rs 1 lakh to Tahrikul-ul-Mujahideen's Bangladesh chapter leader Abdur Razzak of Natore.

Salam also said Harkatul Mujahideen top leader and Pakistani nation Moulana Fazlur Rahman Khalil had also visited Bangladesh. Sources say Khalil made the visit in 1997 and met local militants at an NGO office in Mohammadpur in the capital.

Sources in the law-enforcement and intelligence agencies say they have information about activities of RSO, ARNO and NUPA in the hill areas of Bandarban and Cox's Bazar.

Moulana Salam also substantiated the claim as he in his statement said those groups still have some training camps in Naikhangchhari in Bandarban.

Activities of HuM were detected a few months ago when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) learned one year after the arrest of Abdul Majid alias Abu Yusuf Butt that he is from India-administered Kashmir. Moulana Salam said Moulana Tajuddin told him that Majid brought a consignment of grenades used in the August 21, 2004 attack from Chittagong.

Analyses of interrogation statements of Mufti Obaidullah, Moulana Monsur Ali, Shaikh Abdur Rahman, Moulana Abdus Salam and Anisul Mursalin, now detained in India, Indian militants Faisal Nayeem alias Khurram alias Abdullah, Amir Raza, Mufti Obaidullah, Monsur Ali, Golam Yazdani alias Yahia, Mozammel and several others suggest that they had close relation with detained Huji linchpins Mufti Abdul Hannan, Abu Sayeed alias Dr Zafar and Moulana Abdur Rouf. Rouf, who was initially involved with Huji but later formed another militant group Tanjim-e Tamiruddin, visited an LeT safe shelter cum training camp in Habiganj in 2002. Khurram and Amir Raza had often visited Bangladesh but left the country in 2006.

Link

India-Pakistan

Musharraf rewarded Pak militant who slit throat of Indian officer

2009-09-20

ISLAMABAD: Ilyas Kashmiri, a militant commander who fought in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s and is believed to have been killed in a recent US drone attack, was once rewarded by Pervez Musharraf for "slitting the throat" of an Indian Army officer in 2000, a media report said.

Kashmiri, a commander of the Harkat-ul-Jehad al-Islami>Harkat-ul-Jehad al-Islami, was reportedly killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan last week.

He also served in the elite Special Service Group, a commando unit of the Pakistan Army, and was deputed by the military to train Afghan mujahideen fighting the Russian Army in Afghanistan in the mid-1980s, The News daily reported.

On February 26, 2000, Kashmiri reportedly conducted a guerrilla operation against the Indian Army in Nakyal sector after crossing the LoC with 25 militants. He surrounded a bunker and threw grenades inside.

He surrounded a bunker all by himself?

"He was able to kidnap an injured Indian officer whose throat he later slit, the report said. Kashmiri came back to Pakistan with the head of the Indian officer and presented it to top army officials, including then army chief Gen Musharraf, who gave him a cash award of Rs 1 lakh," the report said.

Pictures of Kashmiri with the head of the dead Indian officer in his hands were published in some Pakistani newspapers and he became very important among militants, the report said.

Link

Bangladesh

Huji active in Bangladesh

2009-02-19

Bangladesh has for the first time admitted that its territory and porous borders may have been used by terrorist groups to target India and says it is committed to acting against them. The Harkat-ul-Jehad>Harkat-ul-Jehad (Huji), the anti-Indian militant group, continues to function in Bangladesh though it has been banned, admitted Hasan Mahmud, state minister for foreign affairs.

Mahmud, in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, said Huji "definitely" exists in Bangladesh despite a ban on it. "They are banned, but they are in hideouts now," he said.

Asked whether the Bangladesh Government was trying to trace Huji hideouts, Mahmud said: "definitely, we are trying to find out their locations."

Mahmud said Bangladesh was willing to hand over United Liberation Front of Asom leader Anup Chetia, who has been in a Bangladeshi jail since 1996, to India. "We have mutually agreed on the handover; now we have to decide on the formalities of how to handover. It will also include handover of Bangladeshi criminals who have fled to India," he said.

The minister promised a crackdown on militant groups and alleged terrorists in the South Asian region had "cross-border linkages".

A "crackdown will indeed happen because terrorist attacks, which have been happening in the region in the past few months, even in Mumbai, there are cross-border linkages of these terrorists. Not only Lashkar (Laskhar-e-Toiba) and Huji, but other terror organisations also. They (were) trained in Afghanistan, they were in Pakistan (and) then they came here," he said.

Link

India-Pakistan

ISI plans 'Islamic Republic of Pakistan' by 2020 in India

2009-01-06

NEW DELHI: Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) apparently has plans to destabilize India by influencing developments in the north and west of the country, particularly in Mumbai, as part of its multi-pronged strategy.

Terrorists arrested in Jammu have made these revelations.

According to an article published in the latest issue of the Power Politics magazine, the ISI has circulated two maps to the Pakistan Army to boost troop morale by giving them a target to destabilize India by 2020.

One of the maps targets North India, and projects a desire to convert that region into 'Islamic Republic of Pakistan' by 2020. It mentions South India as disputed territory and treats Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal as its neighbouring countries. The other map indicates a drastic change of Mumbai's topography, turning the metropolis into 'Muslimabad' by 2012.

The magazine carries the photographs of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) activist Ghulam Fareed, identified as Pakistani soldier, (Belt No 4319184, 10 Azad Kashmir Regiment) from Ruperi village in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's (PoK's) Bhimber district and the other two--Mohammad Abdullah from North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Mohammad Imran from Dera Nawab in Pakistan's Punjab--belonged to Harkat-ul-Jehad (HuD) terrorists group. They travelled from Karachi to Dhaka to enter India from Kolkata and they landed at Jammu from there.

The write up further states that according to the plan, ISI has been attempting to place India under seige both from the sea and land routes simultaneously.

Pakistan has moved its army to forward areas in Lahore strengthening international border and LOC with India to protect its vital installations.

The article, written by a Kashmir expert, carries both maps to substantiate the revelations.

Link

India-Pakistan

Islamic militants killed in Assam by Indian Army

2008-09-26

At least seven Islamic militants have been killed in a clash with the Indian army in the north-eastern state of Assam, the military says. Army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said that a platoon of soldiers encircled a hideout of militants in a village in the western district of Dhubri on Friday. The troops asked the militants to surrender, but they started firing at the soldiers, Mr Kalia said.

Clashes between the military and Islamic militants are unusual in Assam. However, there have been frequent clashes between the army and the insurgent groups fighting for independence or more autonomy over the last two decades.
Mr Kalia said that troops launched a full scale attack on the hideout after they were fired at, killing the militants. He said that the army recovered six revolvers and two kg of explosives from the dead militants after the encounter which lasted for more than two hours.

Mr Kalia said that the militants belonged to the Bangladeshi Islamic terror group, Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HUJI). "We had information about the movement of HUJI militants in the Bansbari area, and the operation was launched on the basis of that intelligence," Mr Kalia said. He said that the army attacked as the militants were trying to meet another HUJI group near the state capital, Guwahati.

Mr Kalia said their location was tracked through a mobile interception system.
The HUJI has been blamed for recent explosions in various Indian cities, including the 2005 Delhi blasts, and Indian intelligence has said that some of them have been using Assam as a gateway into other Indian States. But this is the first time that there has been an encounter with the HUJI militants in the state.

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India-Pakistan

A HuJI militant, he is wanted for Jaipur, UP, Samjhauta blasts, say Delhi Police

2008-05-23

Mohammad Iqbal alias Abdur Rehman (31), arrested from New Delhi railway station on Wednesday night, had information about recent Jaipur blasts, Delhi Police said today. He is also wanted for last years UP blasts in Varanasi and Gorakhpur and the Samjhauta Express blasts in Panipat.
Joint Commissioner of Police Karnal Singh told the media today that Rehman, a militant of Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami (HuJI), was also wanted in a Delhi case in which his associate Shabbir Ahmad was arrested last year in Delhi with one kg of RDX.

Two others, Babu Bhai and Naushad, were caught by the UP Special Task Force in June 2007 for their involvement in blasts there.

The police said that during the interrogation, Rehman has revealed that he had information regarding the Jaipur blasts. One of his associates is also lodged in Jaipur jail, whom the police will interrogate, Singh added.

Police sources said the Rajasthan Police has also contacted the Delhi Police to seek Rehmans custody. The HuJI is the prime suspect behind the Jaipur serial blasts.

Rehmans arrest was made at Chelmsford Road near New Delhi Railway station and as per his information, an empty ground near a madarsa in D block in Janakpuri was dug, where, the police said, that he had hidden 3.1 kg RDX, 5 electronic detonators and one timer. The recovery was made on Wednesday night. More raids are being conducted.

The police said Rehman stayed earlier in Janakpuri with one of his associates, who was to help him execute his plans. A hunt is on for the latter. Singh said the consignment of RDX was given to Rehman by Qamar alias Nata, a HuJI leader in Bangladesh, in February last year. But after the arrest of Babu Bhai and Naushad in UP, he buried the RDX in Janakpuri.

Nata himself had visited Rehman in a masjid in Sitapuri, Dabri. Rehman had worked as a Maulana in several masjids in western UP, Delhis Dabri, Janakpuri and Seelampur and has some relatives and friends who arrange hideouts for him. He knows Delhi very well since he has been coming here since his childhood, Singh added. This was his third visit to Delhi to carry out blasts. The two earlier attempts were unsuccessful. He was to carry out attacks in crowded places. The specific plans were to be revealed later.

The police said Rehmans HuJI handlers had asked him to stay in his native Shyamli in Muzaffarnagar, UP. He was to contact one Shabbir Ahmad for carrying out the blasts in Delhi.

But after the arrest of Babu Bhai and Naushad last June, he was recalled to Bangladesh in October. He had stayed in Dhaka, Singh said.

Delhi Police had issued warrants against Rehman and his movements were being tracked.

Rehman, Singh said, had left Muzaffarnagar in 2002 and came in contact with Babu Bhai in UP, who sent him to Bangladesh from where he went for the Daura-e-Khas training in Pakistans Sindh.

The Delhi Police alleged that Rehman is trained in handling AK-47, operating LMG, TT pistol, rocket launcher, grenade, sniper rifle, SLR, RDX for making Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) with timer and detonator and making petrol bombs and other time bombs.

During his stay in Bangladesh this January, he was also taught to make IEDs. He has told us that Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad are supporting HuJI in its activities and provide training to Indian youths in their camps in Pakistan with the help of ISI, he added.

Link

India-Pakistan

Expel all Bangladeshis in a month: Raje govt

2008-05-17

Jaipur, May 16 : With the needle of suspicion in the Jaipur serial blasts pointing to the Bangladesh-based terrorist outfit, Harkat ul Jehade Islami (HuJI), the Rajasthan government today issued an order to all district magistrates in the state to identify illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the state and begin the process of their expulsion.

Rajasthan Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathor said the district magistrates have been asked to ensure compliance of the order within one month.

They have been asked to verify if the addresses given by them are really of West Bengal or are fake, Rathor said, clarifying on the status of people who have been issued government documents such as voters identity cards.

He also said that at least 40 Bangladeshis had been picked up by the police in relation with the ongoing investigations. We think the terrorists had been provided local support by some people and are just trying to establish who they are. Our police teams have been sent to Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and we are hoping for a breakthrough soon, he added. The government also said that security will be beefed up for the IPL match scheduled for tomorrow.

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