M A I N   N E W S

J&K sleuths probe Qaida presence
Tribune News Service

New Delhi/Jammu, July 14
The Centre has asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to probe the veracity of claims that Al-Qaida had set up a wing in the state. Home Ministry officials said the state police has been asked to do voice test of the phone message to a local news agency from a man who claimed to be spokesperson of Al-Qaida.

The local call was traced to a STD booth located at Jamalhatta in Srinagar. The booth operator, who was questioned, has provided a brief description of the caller as being Kashmiri speaking.

A man calling himself Abu Al-Hadeed had contacted a local news agency in Srinagar on telephone and stated that J and K al-Qaida headed by Abu Abdur Rehman Ansari, chief commander, had been launched in the state.

The State intelligence agencies have started a probe into the claim of Abu-Al Hadeed that the Al-Qaida had arrived in Jammu and Kashmir. The police has said even if the claim of Hadeed was correct it meant that now onwards moral and material support to the militants, operating in Jammu and Kashmir, would be made available by the Al-Qaida.

In such a situation the Al-Qaida will hold control militancy in its hands. Those rebel groups which will play a second fiddle to the Al-Qaida would receive moral and material assistance and those where defy it are likely to face the wrath of Abu Abdur Rehman Ansari, described as the Al-Qaida’s chief commander in Jammu and Kashmir.

Home Ministry officials said that important breakthrough has been made with regard to grenade attacks in Srinagar on July 11 in which nine persons were killed and 32 injured. They said that interrogation of Mohmmad Afzal, who was caught by people while throwing a grenade opposite the Tourist Reception Centre, Srinagar, have led to the arrest of four more militants hailing from north Kashmir. The militant also revealed that LeT militant Mudassir, alias Raju, was organising these attacks under the overall supervision of LeT commander Bilal, alias Sallah-ud-din.

A senior police officer, supervising counter-insurgency operations in the state, said today “militants operating in the state have strong links with men of the Al-Qaida.” He said militant outfits, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Lashkar-i-Toiba, the Harkatul Ansar and the Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami received patronage from the Al-Qaida leaders and activists.

The police officer stated recently several new militant groups, including the Al Mansoorian the Al- Arifin, the Save Kashmir Movement, the Farzandani Milat and the Al Nasrin, had appeared on the scene with serial bomb and grenade attacks on vital Government installations. But in reality these five outfits had their origin in the Lashkar-i-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad.