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| India-Pakistan |
| Bangalore attackers were LeT trained, planned to fight in Iraq |
| 2005-12-31 |
| Two Hyderabadi youth who were allegedly trained by Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) in Pakistan and sneaked back into India a few weeks ago have become prime suspects in the terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore on Wednesday. Though the intelligence agencies have no definite clues whether the Hyderabadis were the IISc assailants, intercepts of LeT communications and interrogation of some suspects already in police custody indicate that that is a possibility, top police sources here told The Times of India on Friday. Further, Karnataka director-general of police B S Sial said in Bangalore on Friday that detectives are questioning suspects for any links to the IISc attack. The two young men--identified as Mohammad Nazeer and Nazi, residents of Malakpet in the Old City of Hyderabad--left the city some six months ago. They initially went to Saudi Arabia, apparently under the guidance of Abu Hamza and Bilal, both LeT operatives with Hyderabad origins. From Saudi Arabia, the two men were taken to Pakistan and given training in handling weapons. They were supposed to be sent on a mission to Iraq, but their handlers in Pakistan changed plans and sent them to India. Top police sources in Hyderabad confirmed that both Nazeer and Nazi sneaked into the country, and were tasked with carrying out some 'surprise' operations. "We knew for sure that the two are in India and were acting at the behest of a new LeT module active in the south. We were yet to decipher what is on their agenda and who their target was," a senior police officer told The Times of India. The possibility of the two young men having participated in the IISc shootout is not being ruled out, for the LeT's new south India module became active only a month ago. Both Nazeer and Nazi were armed to the teeth, the sources said. Though the Hyderabad police tried to secure photographs of the two men, they reportedly met with resistance from their families who said the two men had gone to Saudi Arabia for 'employment' and that they did not have their photos. Following the information on Nazeer and Nazi, the police apparatus here has further decided to turn the city into a virtual fortress for the series of events next month. The threat to the city was taken up in Friday's state cabinet meeting. The ministers summoned DGP Swaranjit Sen for a briefing on the security arrangements. Meanwhile, reflecting the gravity of the situation, national security adviser M K Narayanan arrived in Hyderabad on Friday morning to take stock of the security arrangements being made for VVIPs. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |