Hizb militants asked by Salahuddin to strike terror in India

New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) Two suspected Hizbul Mujahideen
militants, who were arrested in Delhi, had met the outfit's
chief Syed Salahuddin in terrorist training camps in Pakistan-
occupied Kashmir where he asked them to carry out terror
strikes in India, police claimed on Friday.

Javed Ahmed Tantray and Ashiq Ali Bhatt, the alleged
militants belonging to Jammu and Kashmir who were remanded to
police custody till August 17 by a court on Friday following
their arrest from central Delhi's Daryaganj at around 11 PM
Thursday night, had met Salahuddin several times after their
first introduction in 2003.

"(A few months back) Salahuddin told them that they
will be given some important assignment in India in near
future," Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P N
Aggarwal told reporters here.

The arrests came hours after the government made
public intelligence inputs about possible terror strikes in
three cities-- Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata -- ahead of
Independence Day celebrations.

According to Aggarwal, the arrested men got their arms
training in terror camps in Boi and Mansura in PoK.

"Ali and Ahmed had met Salahuddin several times. A few
months back, Salahuddin and Hizb Deputy Commander Khalid
Saifulla met them in their camps and told that they will be
tasked with some important assignment in India in near future.

"After around 15 days, Shahid, their Hizb contact,
told them to get ready to leave for India," Aggarwal said.

According to police, Ali and Ahmed had met Shahid
their contact in Rawalpindi on July 29. "Shahid gave them Rs
40,000 and sent both of them to Nepal by Pakistan Airlines.

"An unidentified man received them in Kathmandu who
took them to Pokhra and later they reached Gorakhpur in Uttar
Pradesh. On August three, they boarded a train to Jammu," a
senior police official said.

In north Indian city of Jammu, they contacted one
Faiyaz who arranged a car for them to travel to Delhi besides
arms and ammunition. "They were asked to contact Shahid in
Pakistan once they reach Delhi," the official claimed.

Aggarwal said one of the militants after reaching
Daryaganj, contacted Shahid from a telephone booth who
instructed them to meet one Rizwan in Sarai Kale Khan and
follow his directions.

"We sent a team to Sarai Kale Khan but we could not
find anyone," he said.

On the sequence of events that led to the arrests,
police sources said they received an input at around 4 PM
on Thursday that two militants were on their way to Daryaganj
from Jammu.

"Three teams were deployed at Singhu border, Bypass
and Daryaganj. We spotted them at the border and we tailed
them to Daryaganj. They parked their car in Mahavir Vatika and
one of them made a call to Shahid," Aggarwal said.

Police caught the duo when they were about to leave
from the parking area.

Two AK-47 assault rifles, four magazines containing
120 rounds, cash worth Rs 24,410 and two fake identity cards
were seized from their vehicle, Aggarwal said.

Asked whether police had recovered any parking slip,
which is normally issued before entering the Mahavir Vatika
parking lot, from the arrested, Aggarwal replied in the
negative.

During interrogation, Aggarwal said Ali told police
that that he came in contact with terrorists in 2003. Three
militants Khatib, Ilyas, Gazi and Umar Farooq allegedly
motivated him to join Hizb.

"He was indoctrinated to carry out terror strikes in a
jungle in Kathua. He was given the code name Faisal. Later he
was introduced to one Ehsan who took him to PoK for training
along with 60 others," Aggarwal said. Ali was trained in a
camp in Boi.

After completing his training in 2004, he stayed in
the camp and visited several places in Pakistan like
Islamabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi besides Muzaffarabad.

Javed told interrogators that he came into contact
with terrorist elements in 1997 when three militants Riyaz,
Tarique and Dilawar "motivated" him into joining Hizb. PTI SJY
SDE