26/11 probe: FBI wants to quiz Zarar Shah and Abu Al Qama

New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) The FBI wants to question two
Lashker-e-Taiba terrorists -- Abdul Wajid alias 'Zarar Shah'
and Mazhar Iqbal alias 'Abu Al Qama' -- in a bid to unravel
the entire conspiracy in the execution of 26/11 Mumbai terror
attack including whether they had any links with the Pakistan
Government.

The two militants, whose real identity was ascertained
following increased cooperation between central security
agencies and the FBI, were believed to be the key to the
entire 26/11 plot and their inputs would be vital to know if
any official agency in Pakistan provided help, official
sources said here.

This issue has been discussed between the FBI and
sleuths of Central security agencies and the US investigating
agency had also asked Pakistan to provide access to both of
them, they said. FBI has registered a case in the Mumbai
terror strikes as six US citizens also fell prey in the
attack, the sources said.

The real identity of 'Zarar Shah' and 'Abu Al Qama'
was found after both Indian intelligence agencies and FBI
carried out a painstaking exercise including gathering voice
samples and questioning Lashker terrorists held within India
and abroad.

Wajid alias 'Zarar Shah' and Iqbal alias 'Abu Al Qama'
are residents of Pakistan's Punjab province.

While Iqbal alias Abu Al Qama was a resident of Mandi
Tehsil of Punjab, Wajid alias Zarar Shah hailed from
Sheikhpura district of the same province, the sources said.

On the role of the two in Mumbai terror strikes, the
sources said Iqbal alias Abu Al Qama had been responsible for
training the terrorists who carried out the strikes in Mumbai
on November 26 last year in which 183 people were killed.

Besides having other aliases like Amjad, Iqbal is
wanted in other high-profile cases, including the Red Fort
encounter, the attack on Akshardham temple in Gujarat and
serial bombings on the eve of Diwali in 2005 in the national
capital.

Iqbal is in-charge of Lashker operations in India
except Jammu and Kashmir, the sources said.

Voice samples of Wajid, the investigators said, were
taken from the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and played
in front of other Lashker operatives arrested by the Indian
security agencies and the FBI.

Wajid was in constant touch with the terrorists
carrying out the strikes in Mumbai through VoIP, payments for
which were made on his behalf in Karchi and Barcelona by
Lashker operatives.

Ajmal Kasab, the lone arrested Lashker terrorist in
the 26/11 case, had named the two as having provided them with
training and other facilities in Pakistan.

However, he only knew their alias and could not
identify their actual identity, the sources added. PTI SKL
PMR