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Incidents and Statements involving Lashkar-e-Taiba : 2009

2009

  • December 28: Coming down heavily on the hotel managements for ignoring specific security warnings, a Government-appointed probe panel set up after the 26/11 terror strikes has said that the lack of Police presence outside the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels allowed heavily-armed Pakistani LeT terrorists to walk in rather smoothly. The two hotels and the Leopold Cafe - the worst-hit sites during the multiple terrorist attack last year - in south Mumbai were ill-prepared to thwart the attack despite their managements being informed about specific intelligence warnings that the LeT was planning to target them, says the report of the R.D. Pradhan probe committee. The three sites were specifically named in different intelligence tip-offs, the panel found during its investigations. The hotel managements ignored the warnings and didn't take proper security measures as advised by the Police, it says.

  • December 27:  The Army destroyed a hide-out of the LeT and recovered explosive devices and ammunition in Surankote forests of Poonch District. Recoveries made by the troops of 25 Rashtriya Rifles from the forests include seven Chinese grenade, two magazines of Sniper rifle, two magazines of AK rifle, one UBGL grenade, rucksack bags, medicines, incriminating documents of the LeT and some eatables.

  • December 26: The Army destroyed a hide-out of the LeT and recovered explosive devices and ammunition in Surankote forests of Poonch District. Recoveries made by the troops of 25 Rashtriya Rifles from the forests include seven Chinese grenade, two magazines of Sniper rifle, two magazines of AK rifle, one UBGL grenade, rucksack bags, medicines, incriminating documents of the LeT and some eatables.

  • December 25: The Police arrested two militants of the LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfits from Dhara village in Thanna Mandi area of Rajouri District. One of the arrested militant was working as a co-ordinator between the LeT and HM outfits and was in constant touch with several top ‘commanders’ of the two groups, official sources said. They were identified as Abdul Salam (17), son of Abdul Rashid, a resident of Dhara, Thanna Mandi and Mohammad Rafiq alias Papa Lohar (45), son of Faiz Baksh, a resident of Khanyal Kot. While Salam was affiliated to the HM, Papa Lohar was working for the LeT. Police recovered a high range wireless set, two wireless set antennas, 17 pairs of Dura cell chargers, a number of incriminating documents including letter heads of LeT and HM outfit and a medical kit from the possession of Abdul Salam. Some more recoveries were expected from the two arrested militants during their further interrogation.

  • December 20: Security Forces arrested a close supporter of slain LeT ‘Divisional Commander’ Abu Tallah, identified as Nisar Ahmed, in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, police officials said. He was working as a guide, messenger and courier of slain LeT Abu Tallah.

  • December 17: The Army foiled an infiltration bid by militants at Kamalkote in Uri sector near the Line of Control (LoC), killing one militant. The other cadres of the group escaped back into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The militants had not crossed the barbed wire fencing erected along the Line of Control (LoC) but had entered the Indian Territory when the gun battle took place. A Defence spokesman said the operation was still in progress. As per intelligence reports, more than 2000 militants are waiting at various launch pads across the LoC, awaiting orders to infiltrate into the Valley and other parts of the State. Nearly 100 militants have been killed in dozens of infiltration bids along the LoC in 2009 after the top three militant outfits - LeT, Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) - lost several of their top 'commanders' in anti-militancy operations launched by the Security Forces.

    Three militants were reported to have returned from Pakistan taking an unidentified route and were hiding somewhere in upper reaches of Banihal in Ramban District. The militants have returned after spending nearly a decade in different training camps of Pakistan. Intelligence reports said the route taken by the three militants, two belonging to the HM and another to the LeT, to reach Banihal is being ascertained as strict surveillance is being maintained on traditional infiltration routes at LoC as well as International Border (IB). The militants, who have reached Banihal after nearly a decade long hi-tech training in different camps of Pakistan, have been identified by the Intelligence agencies as Inayatullah and Mohammad Rafiq of HM and Mohammad Iqbal of LeT. With arrival of the three militants, the number of militants operating in Ramban District has gone up to 21.

    Soofiya Madani, wife of Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Nasser Madani, was arrested from her residence in Kochi shortly after the Kerala High Court dismissed her anticipatory bail application in connection with the burning of a Tamil Nadu bus in the State in September 2005. Soofiya was named as the tenth accused by the Kerala Police recently after the interrogation of suspected LeT militant T Nazir, who was picked up by the Bangladesh Rifles along with an associate and handed over to Indian security agencies. Her arrest came as Justice K T. Sankaran dismissed her bail plea stating that, prima facie, there was evidence that terrorism took place and there were serious allegations against the petitioner of waging war against the country.

    Geopolitical intelligence group Stratfor said that the investigation into the David Headley case has conclusively proved that LeT and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HuJI) continue to enjoy great deal of operational freedom in Pakistan because of their links with its Government and military officials even as al-Qaeda barely manages to survive. This is one of the conclusions drawn by Geopolitical intelligence group Stratfor in its latest report on US investigations into Headley which further authenticates India's stand that Islamabad is not doing enough to dismantle the terror infrastructure. According to Stratfor, the case shows that LeT and HuJI operatives were able to travel, raise funds, communicate, train and plan operations in Pakistan with seemingly little interference. ''This is a stark contrast to al-Qaeda, which is hunted, on the run and experiencing a great deal of difficulty moving operatives, communicating, raising funds and conducting operations. The links between Headley and his associates to current and former Pakistani military officers and Government officials are likely what is affording LeT and HUJI their operational freedom,'' said the report, adding that even while having to drift out from under the wings of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the two groups have developed an advanced central planning apparatus. The report goes on to say that HuJI leader Ilyas Kashmiri's links with al-Qaida and the plans for Denmark attack are an indication that HuJI has become more closely aligned with the transnational jihadis targeting philosophy as a result of Kashmiri's contacts with Osama bin Laden and company. ''It appears that LeT, on the other hand, has retained more of a focus on India. So, while the two organisations continue to cooperate, they do have some differences in targeting philosophy, and it would seem that HuJI is creeping further into the al-Qaida orbit than LeT,'' states the report.

  • December 16: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interrogator of David Coleman Headley alias Daood Gilani has, for the first time, confirmed that "A section of serving Pakistan army officers" are working in collaboration with India-specific jihadi groups like LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Sources said this was revealed by Headley to his FBI interrogators in what is the first confirmation by an independent probe agency of the involvement of Pakistani Army officers in planning and executing terrorist operations against India. This, sources said, had been conveyed to the Indian side by the FBI team which visited India to share information on Headley's questioning. While Pakistan has explained away the instances of the involvement of Army officials calling them "aberrations", this has exposed the jihadi infiltration of the Pakistani Army and their collaboration with terrorist outfits in anti-India operations. Sources said the officials identified by Headley were working with Lashkar on 'Karachi project' as part of a larger campaign against India. This project involves using jihadi fugitives from India sheltered in Pakistan to draw in vulnerable Indian Muslim youth. The FBI interrogation of David Coleman Headley has revealed a Lashkar training project involving jihadi fugitives from India. The youth, after they are trained by Pakistani army officials, are sent back to India as part of the gameplan to conceal the Pakistani involvement and pass off the terror in India as a home-grown phenomenon.

  • December 15: A self styled LeT 'commander' hailing from Reasi District was killed in an encounter with the Security Forces (SFs) in Kupwara District, while a Pakistan-trained militant of the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) was arrested by SFs in Srinagar. The encounter took place at Kakadpathri forests in Lolab area of Kupwara District in the morning, after SFs launched an operation to flush out the militants hiding in the area, official sources said. An AK assault rifle, few grenades and some other ammunition were recovered from the incident site. Superintendent of Police of Kupwara District, Uttam Chand, told Daily Excelsior that the slain militant was identified as Abu Muaviya, a resident of Mahore area in Reasi District.

    One Pakistan origin American national, Syed Haris Ahmed (25) of Atlanta, and one Bangladesh origin American national, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee (23) of Georgia, were sentenced to 13 and 17 years in prison respectively by a United States court, for their link to Pakistan-based LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and providing them with material aid and support for attacks in the U.S. and abroad. District Judge William Duffey Junior of Federal Court in Atlanta sentenced Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, following their convictions in 2009 in separate but related criminal trials. Like David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Rana, Sadequee and Ahmed too were in contact with the LeT and the JeM. However unlike Headley, who sent video footage and photographs of possible LeT targets in India, Sadeequee and Ahmed sent video clips of possible LeT targets in the US. "This is not about your faith," Judge Duffey Jr. told them. "This is about your conduct. This is about the rule of law in this country that you have decided does not apply to you."

  • December 14: 'Pashtun-looking' suicide bombers, trained by Taliban, have entered India and are positioned in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and a couple of cities in Gujarat to carry out LeT’s plan to launch a fresh wave of attacks in coming days, security agencies have said. Though the exact number of fidayeen who entered India is not yet clear, Indian agencies have come across inputs stating that suicide squads have already been in touch with their facilitators - who entered India as an advance party - for necessary logistics for the operations. An official said, "It is possible that one or two suicide bombers could be positioned in each of the cities, which are on terror radar. They have been trained by Taliban and pushed into India by LeT."

    The suicide bombers' targets include BARC, Trombay Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Shiv Sena Bhavan in Mumbai American consulate and sea port in Kolkata Rashtiya Swayamsevak Sangathan (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur National Defence College in Delhi, and some defence establishments and civilian targets in other cities including Ahmedabad. Indian agencies have got the inputs from FBI, which got the details from US-based terrorist David Coleman Headley during his interrogation. After being tipped off by FBI, the home ministry has now alerted Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi and Gujarat asking them to beef up security of all such installations and high-risk individuals - like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray - and remain fully vigilant.

    The official said states had also been asked to keep watch on soft and potential targets and intensify patrolling, especially at airports, railway stations, bus terminus and hotels. He said the inputs also suggested that terrorists were ''Pashtun-looking'' and drawn from Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas. A few days before the terrorists' entry, some of their ''facilitators'' had visited different cities for recce and to provide information, the official said.

    In a new disclosure, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said that the famous Somnath temple in Gujarat, Bollywood stars and Shiv Sena leaders in Mumbai were also the targets of LeT, which was planning to carry out strikes with the help of two Chicago-based residents of Pakistani origin. These three possible LeT targets were revealed for the first time by the FBI in a footnote to the fresh evidence and chargesheet submitted by it against Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, the terror suspect whose bail plea hearing is scheduled for December 15 (today) in a Chicago court. Earlier, the Federal Bureau of Investigation had said that the National Defence College in New Delhi was on the hit list of LeT.

    "In the September 7, conversation, David Coleman Headley discussed four targets with Rana - Somnath (a temple in India) and Denmark, Bollywood (a reference to the Indian film industry) and Shiv Sena (a political party in India with roots in Hindu nationalism)," the FBI said in a foot note on page nine of the 10-page fresh affidavit. "In his post-arrest statement, Rana falsely claimed that these were references to potential business ventures. It is difficult to imagine why a person who praises the work of a designated terrorist group that attacks India would look at an Indian temple or a Hindu nationalist party as a business venture," the FBI noted. "It bears note that, as set out in the complaint, ‘business’ and ‘investments’ were code words used by Rana, David Coleman Headley (Pakistani-origin American terror suspect has been charged for plotting Mumbai terror attacks), "Pasha" (a retired Pakistani Army Brigadier) and others to describe terrorist plots," the FBI said. The FBI said in his September seven conversation with Headley, Rana discussed the National Defense College in India as a "target". "Headley added this target to their list of previously discussed targets, saying ‘sorry not four, five,’ and identified the ‘defence college’. Rana responded, ‘right, this is it, I knew already’," the investigating agency said. "Rana said he ‘thought it is the target’ using the English word ‘target’. Headley explained that he would ask LeT Member A to 'do that first' (attack the Defence College). Rana responded affirmatively, 'in this matter, do the defence," the FBI said in the affidavit. "After Headley stated that 'we' would use LeT Member A to carry out the attack on the Defence College, Rana again offered praise for Let Member A and the terror outfit: ‘they should be really commended. I appreciate them from my heart’," the FBI said.

  • December 9: The Army and Police arrested two Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the LeT from village Patnazi in Kishtwar District. They were identified as Noor Hussain (55), son of Abdul Aziz and his 25 year old son Masood Ahmed, residents of Pattan at Patnazi in Kishtwar. Official sources said the OGWs were arrested by a joint team of 21 Rashtriya Rifles and Police during searches conducted in Patnazi. However, no recoveries were made from the possession of the OGWs. Sources said the OGWs had been providing logistic support including eatables and shelters to the LeT militants on the directions of LeT 'district commander' Mohammad Ishaq Bhat alias Atiq.

    David Headley, the suspect terrorist arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), will soon be charged separately by the Mumbai Police for allegedly conducting reconnaissance of targets hit by LeT terrorists in November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11). The decision comes after the FBI gave in a Chicago court details of the reconnaissance missions carried out by the American national at the behest of the LeT. Official sources said that Indian investigators had enough proof of Headley, who is of Pakistani origin, conducting surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the also known as 26/11and all evidence of his involvement would be incorporated in the supplementary charge sheet. However, it would be filed only after Indian investigators get access to interrogate Headley.

  • December 7: The Police arrested two persons, identified as Abdul Hamid Lone and Hussain Mohammad Dar alias Raju, for using cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road to deliver funds for the LeT to fuel militancy in the Kashmir Valley. The arrests were made by Sopore Police while investigating the recovery of INR 300,000 Hawala money from a bakery owner in the apple-town of North Kashmir earlier in December, official sources said. Lone has told Police that his brother Abdul Majid Lone, who is living in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for the last 16 years, was using the cross-LoC trade to fund militants of LeT in the Valley.

  • December 6: The Police arrested a LeT militant while his associate managed to escape in Gubbar forest nursery in Gandoh area of Doda District. The militants were heading towards upper reaches of Gandoh reportedly to meet two Pakistani militants of the LeT outfit known with their code names of Ans and Maaz. The arrested militant was identified as Mudassar Nazar, a resident of village Sarna in Gandoh, while his associate, who escaped from the incident site, was Naseer, a surrendered militant, who also hailed from Sarna. The arrested militant is being interrogated to ascertain hide-outs of the Pakistani militants - Ans and Maaz.

    Arrested Jammu and Kashmir based Islamist militant Abu Yusuf Butt, who is a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfit, confessed before a Dhaka court that he was linked to the August 21,2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in the city, reports Daily Star. Disclosing that he was present at the site of the attack that killed 24 people and injured 300 others, the HM leader also admitted to his close involvement in the planning and preparation of it, court sources said. Yusuf gave the confessional statement before Metropolitan Magistrate AKM Emdadul Huq after being in remand for 14 days in four phases in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Yusuf also said that he also worked with militant outfits Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) and Pakistan-based LeT.

  • December 4: The Police arrested three LeT operatives, including a hawala operator and an arms courier, in three separate operations in the Kashmir valley, recovering a large quantity of ammunition meant for top Lashkar ‘commander’ Abdullah Uni. Police arrested a shopkeeper from the Sangrama area of Sopore in Baramulla District who was on his way to deliver a consignment of 3590 AK ammunition rounds to Abdullah Uni, official sources said. They said Manzoor Ahmad Malik, a resident of Lalad in Sangrama, had received the consignment from Kupwara and was directed to deliver it to Uni and his close associate Muzaffar Ahmad Naikoo. Malik, who runs a shop in Sangrama, has been arrested under the Arms Act and Unlawful Activities Act. The recovery made from Malik was reportedly one of biggest hauls of ammunition in Kashmir valley during 2009.

    Another Lashkar operative, identified as Abdul Rashid Bhat, was arrested from the Kangan area of Ganderbal District. Bhat was a close associate of Pakistani militant Nadeem Gujjar, a resident of village Dohota in the Sialkot District in Pakistan. One Chinese pistol, one magazine and 15 rounds were recovered from his possession. Meanwhile, the Sopore Police arrested a hawala courier who had evaded arrest earlier this week. Identified as Raju, the youth was scheduled to pick up INR 300000 from Manzoor Ahmad, a bakery owner at Sopore, on November 30 but slipped from the Police net as the bakery owner was arrested. Police had raided several hideouts of Raju over the past three days and he was arrested late last night, official sources said. Eight persons have been arrested in the latest crack down on hawala operators in Kashmir valley since July 2009.

    The arrested LeT militant and the mastermind of the July 25, 2008 Bangalore bomb blasts, Nasir, who was handed over to the Bangalore Police, has revealed to investigators that he had links with Abdul Nasir Madani, leader of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the Police said in Bangalore. Tadaiyantavida Nasir alias Ummer Haji alias Ummer and his close aide Safaz alias Shafaz Samsuddi, were taken into custody by the Bangalore Police team lead by Assistant Commissioner Omkaraiah, City Commissioner of Police Shankar Bidari told Express Buzz. Madani was reportedly the first accused in the 12 serial bomb blasts that killed 33 people and injured 153 others in Coimbatore on February 14, 1998. But he was released after the Police failed to prove his involvement. He had close contacts with Nasir and the police are interrogating Nasir about possible involvement in the Coimbatore case, a Police officer said. Nasir allegedly visited Madani in October 2007 and acted as a mediator in a scuffle between Madani and Nasir''s associates. The Police said that Nasir reportedly revealed to investigators that he was responsible for converting youth in the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) through Tareequath classes (a meeting of like minded) to the Jihadi ideology. The Police said that Nasir and his associates regularly visited Hyderabad to attend similar assemblies.

    A senior US diplomat alleged that some Al Qaeda leadership could be present in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. "Our intelligence shows that some of the Al Qaeda leadership is in Pakistan," Candace Putnam, the US Consul-General in Peshawar, told a media roundtable in Peshawar. "I don’t know where Osama bin Laden is on any given day, but we do know that some of the leadership is sitting in Quetta and that they travel back and forth from Afghanistan to Pakistan," she said. "We know that they are there. And I think your government also knows this. Whether they want to say this in public or not but I think they know they are there," she added. She also said that the United States had been successful in removing some of the Al Qaeda leadership. But increasingly, she added, the United States had found that Al Qaeda was working with the Taliban, LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

    However, the Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit described Candace’s statement as "speculation" and "misleading". "This is but sheer speculation. If there is any credible information, it should be shared with us through government channels rather than making misleading statements through the media," the spokesman said. Pakistan’s own intelligence, he added, indicated that the Taliban leadership was in Afghanistan. "Otherwise, they would have long been handled, given our unflinching commitment against violent extremism. Our actions against terrorism speak for themselves," Abdul Basit claimed.

  • December 3: Two LeT militants, who were handed over to India by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) near the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya on December 2, confessed their involvement in the July 25 Bangalore serial bomb blasts. "Nazir Tarian Dabede (25) alias T Nazir told interrogators of Meghalaya Police and BSF that he had planted the bombs along with another person, Rahim," a top Police official said on December 3. "The duo did not admit their involvement in the 2005 terrorist attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore," the official added. They are likely to be taken to Bangalore on December 5. A Bangalore Police team, led by an ACP, has arrived here. Formalities are on to take the two to Karnataka, officials said.

  • December 2: An over-ground worker of the LeT, identified as Bashir Ahmad Wani, was arrested from Nagam village in the Kokernag area of Anantnag District.

    The Border Security Force (BSF) personnel arrested two suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives from Umkrem near Pyrdiwah in East Khasi Hills District in Meghalaya along India-Bangladesh border. They were subsequently handed over to the Meghalaya Police. They were identified as Siraj Shamzudin (30) and Nazir Tarian Dabede (25) and both of them belonged to Kannur District in Kerala. A senior Police official said the militants had confessed their involvement in 2008 serial bomb blasts in Bangalore. They had also masterminded the 2005 terror attack in the same city of Bangalore. They managed to escape Bangladesh soon after the blasts and stayed there till they surfaced in on the Meghalaya border. The BSF public relations officer Ravi Gandhi said that Security Forces in Bangladesh had provided intelligence inputs to the BSF leading to their arrest. "The militants have confessed to belong to LeT though we could not recover any document or identity card from them," Meghalaya Director General of Police S.B. Kakati said. The militants also did not possess any arm or ammunition. A senior Police official said the militants spoke fluent English. "They seem to be highly educated and are the brain behind many other bomb attacks in the southern states," he mentioned. According to the Police, the LeT operatives had no contact or guide in Meghalaya and were probably trying to travel from Shillong to the mainland by themselves. The Police sources said that their guide in Bangladesh may have helped them to reach the border and returned soon after. "The LeT militants wanted to go to mainland India after reaching Shillong. We do not know what new mission they were entrusted with," a Police official said. The Police ruled out any plan by the LeT operatives to strike in the Northeast.

    India is as vulnerable to a terror attack as it was a few months ago because terrorist outfits have forged alliances against the country, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said. "We are as vulnerable today, as we were a few months ago. Groups like LeT are now coordinating their action. One of these groups appears to have forged ties with al-Qaeda," he said in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament). Without naming Pakistan, Chidambaram said even while there has not been any terrorist attack in the last one year, the country cannot lower its guard because "our adversary has not changed its attitude...". Replying to a debate on the internal security, he said the epicenter of the cross border terrorism is the junction point of Afghanistan and Pakistan and since India is in the region, "we are vulnerable".

    The Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram answering supplementary questions in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) said there will be no talks with Pakistan unless it brings to book the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks. "There are no talks with Pakistan," he said. "The Prime Minister has already stated that unless Pakistan brings to book the preparatory of 26/11 Mumbai (terror) attacks and dismantles terrorist infrastructure (in that country), there is no scope for talks with Pakistan," Chidambaram said. Replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on internal security, he said the Government would maintain zero tolerance towards terrorism, whether it is in the shape of jihadi violence or Hindu extremist violence. He also said India remains vulnerable to terrorism as he noted that outfits like the LeT have forged alliances with Al Qaeda and Pakistan has not changed its attitude.

  • November 25: On the eve of the first anniversary of November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) Mumbai attack, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that terrorists backed by various external agencies had expanded their focus beyond the Kashmir Valley with the objective of creating communal tension and hitting the country's economic growth. Underlining the threats which exist despite various security measures taken post-Mumbai terror attacks, the MHA said, "The challenge that we face today is from terrorist organisations that are not only equipped with latest technologies and have immense access to funds, but are having active backing of various external agencies." The MHA also said, "It is important that we are totally committed to a comprehensive approach to tackling terrorism and put in sustained intensive efforts to end this menace."

    However, among measures taken to strengthen security and intelligence infrastructure in the past year, the MHA listed functioning of the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) within the Intelligence Bureau for effective intelligence sharing, setting up of four regional hubs of National Security Guard (NSG) at Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, move to set up 20 counter-insurgency and anti-terrorism schools across the country, constitution of National Investigation Agency (NIA) and strengthening of coastal security among other things. The MHA also said that due to close coordination among intelligence and security agencies of the Centre and States, a number of sleeper cells were broken up, key LeT operatives arrested, terrorist incidents averted and a large number of cases resolved. Referring to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the traditional war zone of Pakistan-based terror outfits the MHA said that the number of violent incidents has gone down considerably and till October, 436 incidents were reported compared to 575 during the corresponding period in 2008.

    A day before the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, an anti-terror court in Rawalpindi indicted seven persons, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, ‘operations commander’ of the LeT, for their suspected involvement in the attacks. The indictment on November 25, 2009 paves the way for the trial of the seven men, which may begin on December 5, the date for which the next hearing has been fixed. The seven persons, all in custody, are: Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, "mastermind" of the attacks Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah, also of the LeT and described as a "facilitator and expert of computer networks" Hamad Amin Sadiq, who is charged with "facilitating funds and hideouts" for the Mumbai attackers Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al Qama, described as a "handler" Shahid Jamil Riaz, who is described both as a facilitator for funds, as well as a crew member of a boat used by the attackers Jamil Ahmed, described as "facilitator" and, Younus, also a "facilitator."

    The in camera proceedings in Anti-Terror Court 1 of Rawalpindi were held in the high-security Adiala Jail, and reportedly lasted a little under two hours. Judge Malik Mohammed Akram Awan framed charges against the seven under the Anti-Terrorism Act, several sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including Section 302 for murder and under the Explosives Act. All the seven pleaded not guilty to the charges, including Shahid Jamil Riaz, who earlier made a detailed confession about his part in the attacks before a judicial magistrate in Rawalpindi, where he was first produced after his arrest. Earlier, the court rejected objections by defence lawyers at the last hearing over the admissibility of the confession of the lone arrested LeT terrorist Ajmal Amir ‘Kasab’ as evidence. They had argued that as he was neither an accused in the case in Pakistan nor in the list of proclaimed offenders, his statement could not be used for the purpose of framing charges against the other accused. While holding that ‘Kasab’ could not be declared a proclaimed offender as his whereabouts were known, the Judge said he would be treated as an accused whose case had been separated from the case under trial in his court, and who was being proceeded against in another court.

    The Police arrested two LeT militants in the Doda District, who had connections with two Pakistani militants, Ans and Maag (code names), operating in Doda. Official sources said Sajjad Ahmed and Sohaib Ahmed, both LeT militants, were arrested from the outskirts of Doda town on specific information that they were involved in grenade attacks. Sources said Sajjad Ahmed and Sohaib were directly linked with Pakistani militants Ans and Maag of the LeT outfit. Police have recovered one hand grenade and 12 AK rounds from the possession of arrested militants.

  • November 24: Five Pakistani Army officers have been detained for questioning over possible links to the two US terror suspects of the LeT, who are accused of plotting an armed attack on a Danish newspaper, intelligence officials said. LeT militants, David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, were arrested in Chicago during October 2009. US prosecutors said the two men were believed to be working with an unidentified senior member of the outfit and a senior Al Qaeda operative. Two Pakistani intelligence officials said phone records showed the five Pakistani officers had contacted Headley and Rana. They say the five include a retired brigadier general and two active lieutenant colonels, but did not provide more details.

  • November 23: Indian authorities have arrested two top LeT militants, who infiltrated into Bangladesh to lead a 15-member squad in an attempt to attack the US and Indian missions in Dhaka, sources in the law-enforcement agencies said. The LeT militants, identified as T. Nasir and Sharfaraz from Indian State of Kerala, were arrested by the Indian intelligence officials soon after they crossed the Bibir Bazaar border in Comilla District on November 6, the sources added. They were reportedly members of the LeT suicide squad and were earlier hiding in the hilly areas of Chittagong District for around one and a half months and trying to collect explosives from the Rohingya rebels for the attack. Funds for launching the attacks on the US Embassy and Indian High Commission were being provided by LeT leaders in Pakistan, said an unnamed official of the Detective Branch. Sources said that T. Nasir, wanted in India for a number of terrorist attacks, was supposed to lead the 15-member team formed with five LeT militants from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan each. They had planned to launch the attack on November 26, the same day the LeT terrorists carried out the Mumbai attack in 2008.

    The Police arrested a suspected LeT operative as he was allegedly carrying INR 100000 hawala money to be delivered to the militants of the outfit in the Barzulla area of capital Srinagar. "Mushtaq Ahmad Dar, son of Mohammad Sadiq Dar, a resident of Wathoora in Budgam district, was arrested at Barzulla while he was on his way to deliver Rs one lakh hawala money to either a conduit or the militants of Lashkar-e-Toibla," Police officials said. Dar was arrested after Police developed some leads while investigating an earlier case of hawala transactions registered in the Police Station Saddar on July 21, 2009.

  • November 22: The LeT denied having any link to two men arrested in Chicago on terrorism charges. David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana were arrested in October 2009 and are accused of plotting an attack on the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and unspecified targets in India, the US authorities said in court documents. The documents said the plans were discussed with the LeT and with another militant Ilyas Kashmiri. The Indian authorities are also investigating whether the two men had links to the Mumbai attacks of November 2008.

    "David Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana have no connections with the Lashkar-e-Taiba, linking them with our organisation was propaganda aimed at maligning Kashmir's freedom struggle… We strongly condemn it," Abdullah Gaznavi, the spokesman for the group, told Reuters by phone. "All our members are local Kashmiri Muslims and we have no network in America, or any other place… We are only fighting Indian security forces in Kashmir," Gaznavi claimed.

    An Afghan war veteran, identified as Abu Motaleb alias Matu alias Majnu, was arrested by the Detective Branch (DB) of Police in the Motijheel area of the capital city Dhaka in Bangladesh. He was taken on a four-day remand after DB Police had produced him before a Dhaka Court. DB Police said that they had arrested Motaleb following information from arrested Pakistani nationals and LeT militants Mohammad Monwar, Mohammad Ashraf Ali Zahid and Syed Abdul Kaiyum alias Sufian.

  • November 21: The Police arrested two LeT militants from village Kurar at Patnazi in Kishtwar District. They were identified as Farooq Ahmed Wani and Abdul Qadir Keen. They were working for LeT 'district commander' Mohammad Issaq Bhat alias Ateeq.

  • November 19: The Union Government sounded a security alert for the International Film Festival of India (IIFI) which opens in Goa from November 23. With intelligence inputs suggesting that the IIFI and some tourist places in Goa could be high on the target list of terror outfits like LeT, the Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) has alerted security and intelligence agencies to heighten their vigil.

  • November 18: With the arrest of Mohammed Navas, a key accused in the burning of a Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation bus at Kalamassery on September 9, 2005, the Kerala Police said that the culprits are those with LeT links and those arrested earlier were not directly involved in the action. The Police suspect that Navas alias ‘Ganju’ Navas, to be the main link in distributing hawala (informal money transfer system) money meant for seditious activities in the State. He was in the first batch of persons recruited for terror training in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, but was ped from further training because of his drinking habit, Police sources said.

  • November 17: Three Bangladeshi nationals, suspected of having links with the Pakistan-based terrorist outfits Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) and LeT, were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police. Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) with a face value of INR 3 million was seized from their possession along with several incriminating documents. According to Rajeev Kumar, the STF Joint Commissioner, the three militants, identified as Abdullahil Baki, Abdur Rahaman and Mohammad Tahidur, had infiltrated through the India-Bangladesh border in the Murshidabad District on November 16. They were reportedly involved in the attack on the STF office in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) and the Shramjeevi Express in 2006. During primary investigation, the arrested reportedly confessed to links with the Pakistan-based Shahid Bilal''s group which is involved in recruiting and training youth from Bangladesh for carrying out terrorist activities for outfits like the LeT and HuJI. Police sources also said that Baki admitted to receiving military training at a camp in Pakistan.

  • November 12: The Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel arrested five cadres of two militant outfits, including the brother of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's (HM) surrendered militant Bashir Lohar and a private ration dealer, during raids carried out at Manwas, Kud Dhar and Doda town in the Doda District. The ration dealer was arrested from outside the District Police Headquarters, Doda when he was carrying out recee of the vital installation. The arrested militants belonged to the LeT and HM outfits, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP, Doda), Parbhat Singh, said. The SSP said Bashir Ahmed, a resident of Kutch Dhar in Doda, was arrested from outside the District Police Headquarters, housing among others the SSP office, when he was carrying out recee of the Headquarters for the HM. Bashir is working as a private ration dealer in Kutch Dhar.

    A LeT cadre, Hanief, a close associate of Mohammad Hussain, a LeT militant who was recently killed by the troops at Koti, was arrested from Koti area where he was searching for a hideout for the LeT militants. Further, three HM activists were arrested by the Doda Police and CRPF from Manwas and Kud Dhar. They have been identified as Nayamatullah, Shabir Ahmed, who the brother of surrendered HM militant Bashir Lohar, both residents of Kud Dhar, and Ghulam Rasool.

  • November 11: The Union Government warned Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra against possible terrorist attacks, particularly on military academies. Sources in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the alert was issued on suspicion that during his stay in India between 2006 and 2009, David Coleman Headley, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegedly plotting attacks in India for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), may have done a reconnaissance of some vital installations for carrying out attacks. The sources said it was found that Headley visited Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Agra and Delhi and did a reconnaissance of the National Defence College in New Delhi and vital installations in other cities. The sources also said it was possible that Headley established sleeper cells in these States. He was reportedly also recruiting cadres for the LeT to send them to a Gulf country using the services of his immigration business in Mumbai. The States have been asked to coordinate with the Indian Army authorities and the administration of the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun and Khadakwasla about security to the vital installations.

  • November 10: The Army personnel killed a LeT ‘commander’ and his close aide during an encounter in the Kalwa area of Mahore sub-division in Reasi District. A Defence spokesman said that on the basis of specific information about the presence of militants, troops of Rashtriya Rifles (61st Battalion) launched a combing operation in Kalwa area, about five kilometers from Mahore town in the afternoon. During the search operation, troops were fired upon by the hiding militants leading to an hour-long encounter in which both the militants were shot dead by the troops. The duo was identified as ‘district commander’ Mohammed Rafiq and his close aide Zabrar. While Rafiq belongs to Mahore area, an identity card recovered from the possession of Zabrar revealed that he hailed from the Tangmarg area of Kashmir valley. From the encounter site, troops recovered one AK-47, two magazines, three grenades, one radio set and a satellite phone. The spokesman said that following the killing of Mohammed Farooq alias Abu Tala, a LeT commander, in an encounter at Bal Angrala village in Reasi District some days back, Rafiq was made the ‘district commander’. He was also entrusted with the responsibility of the outfit''s operations in the adjoining Gulabgarh area.

    A LeT cadre, Hanief, a close associate of Mohammad Hussain, a LeT militant who was recently killed by the troops at Koti, was arrested from Koti area where he was searching for a hideout for the LeT militants. Further, three HM activists were arrested by the Doda Police and CRPF from Manwas and Kud Dhar. They have been identified as Nayamatullah, Shabir Ahmed, who the brother of surrendered HM militant Bashir Lohar, both residents of Kud Dhar, and Ghulam Rasool.

    Two LeT militants were killed in an encounter with the Security Forces (SFs) in the Rafiabad area of Baramulla District in north Kashmir. However, the identity of the militants could not be ascertained. During the exchange of fire between the SF personnel and militants, a gas cylinder was hit by a bullet resulting in the outbreak of a blaze in which two houses were damaged, Police sources said in capital Srinagar. However, no reports of any civilian getting killed or injured during the incident were received.

    A LeT militant was arrested while a militant hideout was neutralized during two separate operations in the Anantnag and Budgam Districts, a Police spokesman said in Srinagar. On specific information, the Anantnag Police arrested a LeT militant, identified as Ashiq Lone alias Setha, a resident of Haf-Shirmal in the Shopian District, at Anantnag town. In another incident, SFs neutralised a militant hideout at the house of Abdul Rashid Mir, a resident of Wani Mohalla Surasyar in Budgam. The troops recovered 49 AK rounds, one AK bayonet, one detonator, one AK combination tool, three blankets and one gas cylinder from the hideout.

  • November 9: A top militant of the LeT outfit surrendered before the Army and Police in Reasi District. He has been identified as Mohammad Ashraf (code name Abu Ibrar) a resident of Mahore. A 'platoon commander' of the LeT, Ashraf was a Pakistan trained militant and was operating in Reasi District since 2006. Initially, he was affiliated with the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfit but had later switched over to the LeT. The militant handed over one AK-47 rifle, two magazines, six cartridges, one binocular and one solar charging plate at the time of surrender.

  • November 8: Three Pakistani LeT militants still holed up in Bangladesh targeted the US Embassy and Indian High Commission in Dhaka for attacks before Hajj (pilgrimage) as part of the outfit's plan, sources in the Detective Branch (DB) of Police said. Officials of the DB said that they received the information from detained Bangladeshi LeT leader Mufti Harun Izahar, and Harun's associates Shahidul Islam and Al Amin alias Saiful. The DB officials said that during interrogation, the arrestees divulged that three Pakistani nationals aged around 30 came to Bangladesh two months earlier to ute the attack plan with the help of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami-Bangladesh (HuJI-B) militants. The DB Assistant Commissioner Sanwar Hossain told Daily Star, "We are trying our best to arrest the militants involved in the plot to attack the foreign missions."

  • November 5: Unable to send the newly recruited youths across the Line of Control (LoC) for arms training, the militant outfits, especially LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), were reported to have activated their training camps in the upper reaches and forest areas of Doda, Reasi and Rajouri belts. This information was secured from some of the recently arrested militants and over-ground workers in the Doda belt comprising the Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban Districts, Udhampur and Reasi Districts and twin border Districts of Poonch and Rajouri. According to Intelligence inputs, militant outfits, including the LeT and HM, have managed to attract nearly 50 youths from Jammu region into their ranks during the past few months. The fresh recruits have been kept in the huts abandoned by shepherds with the onset of winter in the upper reaches.

    The inputs further revealed that the militants did make a couple of attempts to take fresh recruits to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) from the Poonch and Rajouri sectors but failed due to the fencing and alertness of troops. The militant commanders, on whose disposal the fresh recruits have been kept, now have been advised by their mentors from across the LoC to provide training in handling of sophisticated weapons and explosive devices to new recruits by reviving the training camps in Pir Panjal range and upper reaches, which were used quite a long back but had been de-activated for the past few years. A series of messages of militant commanders of the LeT and HM, intercepted by security agencies and Police, have revealed that the militants were facing massive shortage of manpower in view of the almost negligible infiltration from LoC in Rajouri and Poonch Districts in 2009. However, few militants were diverted to Doda and Reasi belts by the LeT and HM commanders from Shopian and Anantnag areas of the Kashmir valley to compensate for the losses suffered by two outfits during last few months.

  • November 4: A day after the LeT plot to attack key installations and schools was revealed by the FBI of US, more details were reported about the terror plan directed at India. As per a report obtained by Zeenews, the LeT is planning more 26/11 (the November 26, 2008 attack in Mumbai) like attacks in India. FBI inputs suggest that popular tourist spots, international boarding schools and several key installations in India are the prime targets of LeT this time. The terrorist outfit also has major plans to target the American and the Israeli citizens currently visiting and residing in India.

    In addition, two unidentified militants associated with the LeT's Bangladesh module have successfully sneaked into India through the eastern border. The FBI has warned Indian intelligence agencies that they have strong evidence about one of the two militants being in Maharashtra. The other is said to targeting a major tourist spot, but keeping a low profile at present in order to avoid detection by the Indian intelligence agencies. The two militants are said to be acting on the basis of specific instructions from LeT 'commanders' Ilyas Kashmiri and Abu Sayed.

    The Detective Branch (DB) of Police arrested three LeT militants at Jameyatul Ulum Madrassa (Seminary) on a hill at Lalkhan Bazar area in the Chittagong District. The arrestees were identified as Mufti Harun Izahar, Shahidul Islam and Al Amin alias Saiful. The trio was reportedly linked to a plot to attack the US embassy in Dhaka. The DB officials said that Izahar, along with another suspect, did recce of the US embassy area several times to devise an attack plan. They also detected several calls the three made to several Pakistani militant leaders.

    Further, the arrestees were placed on a two-day remand on November 6. Assistant Commissioner of DB Sanwar Hossain said that the arrestees needed to be remanded for obtaining crucial information about the plot, their network and the people involved in it.

  • November 3: David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested on October 27 by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), were part of a LeT plan of a major terrorist attack on the facilities of a Danish newspaper and the National Defence College in India, federal prosecutors have said. The reference to the National Defence College as a target was made by the duo during their conversations on September 7, which was recorded by the FBI, Times of India reported. "In the same conversation, Headley and Rana discussed Denmark and other targets, including the National Defence College in India Rana, in fact, used the English word "target" in this discussion," the FBI informed the court.

  • November 1: Security Forces (SFs) killed a ‘commander’ of the LeT during an encounter in the Mahore area of Reasi District. Official sources said a joint team of the Rashtriya Rifles (61st Battalion) and Police launched a search operation at village Bal Angralla under the jurisdiction of Mahore Police Station in the night after securing information about the presence of a couple of militants in the area. In the ensuing exchange of firing between two sides, LeT ‘commander’ Mohammad Farooq alias Abu Tala, a resident of Baddar Falaskote in Mahore, was killed while his associate managed to escape taking cover of a surrounding forest area. Recoveries made from encounter site include one AK-47 rifle, three magazines, 90 AK rounds, one wireless set, one Mobile telephone, one Chinese grenade, eight pencil cells, two SIM cards, 12 audio cassettes and a number of incriminating documents, including letter heads of the LeT outfit.

  • October 31: The Security Forces (SFs) shot dead two top militants of the LeT, including a self styled ‘commander’ who had managed to give slip to the SFs twice during recent gun battles, in an encounter in the Sopore town of Baramulla District. House of Ghulam Mohiuddin Mir, in which the militants were hiding, was completely damaged in the gun battle as the SFs had to use mortar shells to penetrate the shield of the militants. Some arms and ammunition were recovered from the debris of the house but search operations were still going on till reports last came in. The slain militants were identified as Abdullah Yuni and Zubair. Yuni had twice escaped the security forces dragnet during encounters in the Sopore area. Last week, Yuni had managed to escape from an encounter at Batapora in Sopore area.

  • October 30: The militants tried to attack the house of Rukhsana, the teenager who along with her brother had shot dead LeT ‘commander’ Abu Osama on September 27, 2009, at Kalsian in the Upper Shahdara Sharief area of Rajouri District. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Shafkat Wattali, said the militants reportedly fired rifle grenades targeting the newly set up Kalsian Police Post near the house of Rukhsana at 9.20 pm. Rifle grenades were followed by firing by the militants from a distance. The Police party is reported to have retaliated and after an exchange of firing till 10.10 pm the militants, stated to be four in number, managed to escape. Rukhsana along with her brother and other family members have already been shifted to a protected place by the Police.

    Pakistan's Consul General in Chicago personally knew both David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, arrested by the FBI for planning to carry out a major terrorist attack in India at the behest of the LeT, the US authorities have claimed. The FBI in its revised charge-sheet filed before a Chicago court said the Consul General of Pakistan in Chicago personally knows both Rana and Headley a.k.a. Daood Gilani, as all three of them are from the same high school. According to the Website of the Pakistan Embassy in US, Dr Aman Rashid is the Consul General in Chicago. "On or about September 25, 2009, Rana spoke by telephone with the Consul General at the Pakistani Consulate in Chicago in an effort to obtain a five-year visa for Headley to travel to Pakistan. It is clear from the email traffic unrelated to terrorist plotting that the Consul General knows Rana and Headley personally as all three attended the same high school," the FBI claimed. However, the affidavit, does not say anything if the Consul General was aware or had any inclination of the terrorist connection of Rana and Headley. Rana (48) and Headley (49) are residents of Chicago and also alumni of the same military school.

    American national Headley, whose assistance was sought by LeT in planning a major terrorist attack in India, was helped by his Pakistani-Canadian friend Rana to obtain a visa for Pakistan so that he can travel to NWFP for training and meeting the LeT leaders, federal prosecutors have charged. The charge-sheet also indicates that the LeT was planning to use Headley for a major terrorist attack in India. The transcripts of the taped conversations, both e-mail and telephone, reveals that the LeT was planning to use Headley for attack on a mysterious Indian actor ''Rahul'' - which Indian intelligence agencies say could be a code message. Headley stated that he intended to travel to Pakistan in early October 2009 to meet with an unidentified LeT Individual ''B'' and (Ilyas) Kashmiri, the FBI told the court. It said Headley had already travelled to Pakistan from late January to early March of 2009, during which he visited FATA.

  • October 28: US investigating agencies have neutralised a plot by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to use an American national for terrorist attacks in Denmark and India. The man, identified as David Coleman Headley, was one of two suspects arrested early in October 2009 by FBI''s Joint Terrorism Task Force at Chicago''s O''Hare International Airport before he boarded a flight to Philadelphia, from where he was intending to travel to Pakistan to meet Pakistani terrorist handlers, including the fugitive Ilyas Kashmiri. Headley''s partner in the terror plot, which included plans to attack the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, was a Pakistani-Canadian named Tahawwur Hussain Rana, also a resident of Chicago who was arrested by the FBI on October 18. According to the FBI affidavit filed in a Chicago court, Headley was in close contact with Ilyas Kashmiri and several unidentified leaders of LeT, two of whom are identified as "LeT member A" and "Individual A." He had visited Pakistan before to meet LeT handlers and was returning there ostensibly to finalize plans for strikes. "In July and August 2009, Headley exchanged a series of e-mails with LeT Member A, including an exchange in which Headley asked if the Denmark project was on hold, and whether a visit to India that LeT member A had asked him to undertake was for the purpose of surveilling targets for a new terrorist attack," the FBI said in its affidavit. "These e-mails reflect that LeT Member A was placing a higher priority on using Headley to assist in planning a new attack in India than on completing the planned attack in Denmark," it said. Although the affidavit named Kashmiri, it did not identify others involved in the plot, referring to them as LeT member A and Individual A. It said LeT member A "has substantial influence and responsibility within the organization" and his "identity is known to the government." "In July and August 2009, Headley exchanged a series of e-mails with LeT Member A, including an exchange in which Headley asked if the Denmark project was on hold, and whether a visit to India that LeT member A had asked him to undertake was for the purpose of surveilling targets for a new terrorist attack," the FBI said in its affidavit. Although the affidavit named Kashmiri, it did not identify others involved in the plot, referring to them as LeT member A and Individual A. It said LeT member A "has substantial influence and responsibility within the organization" and his "identity is known to the government."

  • October 27: US investigating agencies have neutralised a plot by the Pakistan-based LeT to use an American national for terrorist attacks in Denmark and India. The man, identified as David Coleman Headley, was one of two suspects arrested early in October 2009 by FBI''s Joint Terrorism Task Force at Chicago''s O''Hare International Airport before he boarded a flight to Philadelphia, from where he was intending to travel to Pakistan to meet Pakistani terrorist handlers, including the fugitive Ilyas Kashmiri. Headley''s partner in the terror plot, which included plans to attack the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, was a Pakistani-Canadian named Tahawwur Hussain Rana, also a resident of Chicago who was arrested by the FBI on October 18.

    According to the FBI affidavit filed in a Chicago court, Headley was in close contact with Ilyas Kashmiri and several unidentified leaders of LeT, two of whom are identified as "LeT member A" and "Individual A." He had visited Pakistan before to meet LeT handlers and was returning there ostensibly to finalize plans for strikes. "In July and August 2009, Headley exchanged a series of e-mails with LeT Member A, including an exchange in which Headley asked if the Denmark project was on hold, and whether a visit to India that LeT member A had asked him to undertake was for the purpose of surveilling targets for a new terrorist attack," the FBI said in its affidavit. "These e-mails reflect that LeT Member A was placing a higher priority on using Headley to assist in planning a new attack in India than on completing the planned attack in Denmark," it said. Although the affidavit named Kashmiri, it did not identify others involved in the plot, referring to them as LeT member A and Individual A. It said LeT member A "has substantial influence and responsibility within the organization" and his "identity is known to the government." "In July and August 2009, Headley exchanged a series of e-mails with LeT Member A, including an exchange in which Headley asked if the Denmark project was on hold, and whether a visit to India that LeT member A had asked him to undertake was for the purpose of surveilling targets for a new terrorist attack," the FBI said in its affidavit. Although the affidavit named Kashmiri, it did not identify others involved in the plot, referring to them as LeT member A and Individual A. It said LeT member A "has substantial influence and responsibility within the organization" and his "identity is known to the government."

  • October 26: The Security Forces (SFs) shot dead three top militants of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfit, including a ‘divisional commander’, during an encounter in the Shopian District of south Kashmir. The Army, Police and Central Reserve Police Force launched a joint operation in the forests of Shalidar in the Keller area of Shopian following receipt of information about the presence of militants in the area. Officials sources said in the ensuing encounter, three HM militants were killed and a cache of arms, ammunition and war-like stores were recovered from the hideout. The slain militants have been identified as ‘divisional commander’ for Pir Panjal Range, Saquib, and his two close associates Riyaz Poswal and Ishfaq Ahmad alias Adnan. Two AK-56 rifles, one AK-74 rifle, 14 magazines of AK rifles, a satellite phone, one Pistol, three mobile sets, one radio set and 278 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the incident site. Saquib, believed to be a Pakistani national, was instrumental in coordinating subversive activities with other militant groups like the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), the officials said. He was also behind several attacks on the SFs and civilians in south Kashmir in the recent times.

  • October 25: Pakistan-based terrorist outfits the LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) are planning to infiltrate terrorists into India to "create mayhem", the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said, asserting that the country''s security forces were, however, prepared to meet any external threat, PTI reported. He said Pakistan has no will to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008 and voiced concern over the spread of Taliban in that country, apprehending that the danger could spread to the rest of South Asia, including India. "We go by the information or intelligence that we are able to gather. Our assessment of the inputs flowing into India is that the LeT, the JeM and the Hizbul Mujahideen are planning to infiltrate terrorists into India. Now obviously they are not (not) trying to infiltrate for tourism purposes. They are being infiltrated to India to create mayhem here. Therefore, we say that the threat level has not diminished. That is what the Prime Minister said (in the Commanders Conference). There are many attempts which have been foiled even before they could (materialise)," Chidambaram said in an interview to PTI. Asked how well prepared the country was to meet terrorism inspired from across the border, Chidambaram said, "We are prepared to meet any external threat. As I said, we are building capacity every day, every week, every month. But, in today''s world, being vigilant and alert is a 24/7 function."

  • October 23: The Police and Army claimed of having killed a top militant ‘commander’ of the LeT outfit in an encounter in the Sopore area of Baramulla District. However, two militants are reported to have managed to escape from the incident site. The slain militant has been identified as Abu Mavia, the district commander of LeT for Baramulla District.

    The security of the Madhya Pradesh (MP) Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been beefed up in wake of a threat letter. Though the letter (written in Hindi) bore no address, the sender’s name was stated as LeT, said Inspector General A. K Soni adding a team has been assigned to probe the matter. Prima facie it seems to be a fake letter dispatched on the behalf of LeT, still we are investigating it, he said. The letter was reportedly posted at the official address of the Jhansi station superintendent, who subsequently forwarded it to MP Police Head Quarter.

  • October 21: Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Iran had been informed that Jundallah chief Abdul Malik Reigi is in Afghanistan and not Pakistan. He said Islamabad had forwarded knowledge of his whereabouts to Iran. Condemning the incident in Iran, he said Pakistan had already repatriated Reigi’s brother to Iran and would not hesitate to repatriate Reigi if he were on its soil.

    He also claimed that India has continuously failed to share information on the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26, 2008 with Pakistan and Islamabad will not listen to any further allegations of its involvement in the incident. "We have been continuously accused [of involvement in the Mumbai attacks by India] ... enough is enough," he told journalists in Islamabad. He also warned India against issuing threats to Pakistan, adding nobody should cast doubt over Pakistan’s commitment to fight terrorism. He said if India refused to share information with Pakistan, Islamabad would refuse to listen to any more allegations implicating it in the attacks. He also said Pakistan had not yet received India’s seventh dossier on the Mumbai attacks. "India should not perceive our offer for negotiations as a sign of weakness ... we can engage in threatening rhetoric just as well, or even better, than India. Pakistan is not a weak country and is capable of responding (to India)," he told journalists. He stated that Islamabad would not take dictation from anyone over the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (also known as LeT) chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed’s case.

  • October 19: The Islamabad Police arrested an activist of the Jama'at-ud-Da'awa (the LeT front) from Pir Wadhai.

  • Pakistan has informed Iran that Jundallah (Soldiers of God), the Pakistan-based anti-Shia militant outfit, which has claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Zahedan, targeting the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards, is carrying out coordinated terrorist operations with the help of the TTP and the LeJ, to undermine Pakistan-Iran relations. According to interior ministry sources in Islamabad, the explanation has been conveyed to Tehran after the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad alleged that the suicide attack, which killed at least 42 persons, had been plotted from Pakistan. Ahmadinejad had further alleged that Abdul Malik Rigi, chief of the Jundallah, who has claimed responsibility for the attack, operates from Pakistan.

  • October 15: The Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram admitted that the country remains vulnerable to a November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) Mumbai-style terrorist attack because neighbouring Pakistan is struggling to rein in the Islamist groups blamed for 26/11. He, however, made it clear that any new attack would be met with a "swift and decisive" response. "My assessment of the vulnerability is that it has remained the same since 26/11. It has not diminished nor has it enhanced", Chidambaram said in an interview to a news agency.

  • October 12: A suspected militant, Ali Mohammad Dhobi, was arrested by Security Forces along with two illegal locally-made guns from Kishtwar District. He was reportedly earlier operating for slain LeT militant Abu Maaj.

  • October 9: The Security Forces (SFs) killed two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants, including a Pakistani, in the Neel area of Ramban District, Superintendent of Police Ramban Mubassir Latifi said, according to Daily Excelsior. One of the slain militants has been identified as Qasim Zubair, a resident of Zarari in Neel while his associate was a Pakistani national and his identity has not been established so far. Both of the slain militants were operating in the Banihal sub-division for more than two years. Two AK rifles and a large quantity of ammunition and explosives have been recovered from incident site.

    Meanwhile, the anti-militancy operation at Ladoo in the Khrew area of Pulwama District continued for the third day today as the SFs combed the area looking for militants, who had reportedly escaped earlier. Official sources said the troops have strengthened the cordon around a vast area in Ladoo forests as reports said a group of militants had managed to escape from the encounter site on October 7. One militant was killed on that day while several SF personnel sustained injuries in the encounter till October 9.

  • October 7: Five militants, including two top ‘commanders’ of the LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfits, were killed and two soldiers injured in Kashmir.

    A Defence Ministry spokesman said in capital Srinagar that Security Forces killed a ''district commander'' of the HM, Abdul Majeed Bhat, at Trikanjan Top near the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri sector. One AK rifle and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the slain militant. He also that said a LeT militant was killed at Narote forest in the Baramulla District.

    Further, the spokesman said the Special Operation Group (SOG) personnel of Jammu and Kashmir Police and Paratroops launched a joint operation at Satkuji forest at Handwara in the Kupwara District following a tip-off about the presence of militants. When the area was being sealed, the militants opened fire and lobbed hand grenades on the SFs. The troops retaliated and subsequently killed two LeT militants. The operation was still going on when the reports last came in, official sources said.

    In addition, the Police, Rashtriya Rifles (21st Battalion) and Paratroops killed a top militant of the LeT at Behnipora forest in Handwara. The slain militant was identified as Abu Humza, a resident of Pakistan.

    Meanwhile, the operation against militants hiding in the forests at Khrew in Pulwama District continued for the second day. SFs are searching the forest area, official sources said. They also said one militant was so far killed in the encounter on October 7-afternoon. State Home Department sources said the encounter in the forest area began two days back after a militant involved in a car bombing at downtown city was arrested and he told the Police that perpetrators of the blast, which killed four people, were staying in the jungles. Two of the eight terrorists had been killed while the remaining militants, mainly Pakistani nationals, were still hiding in the jungles. Army helicopters had been pressed into service to locate them, the sources said.

  • October 2: An over ground worker of the LeT was arrested in the Handwara area of Kupwara District by the SFs. Identified as Sonaullah Mir alias Akash, son of Mohammad Abdullah Mir, resident of Changi Mulla Police post in Zachaldara area of Handwara, Mir was working for LeT commander Rehman Bhai. On his disclosure one pistol, two pistol magazines, 20 rounds of pistol ammunition and two hand grenades were recovered from a garden in the village Changi Mulla Zachaldara.

    The Police seized terror fund worth INR 2.5 lakh from a LeT militant, which was being smuggled from Sopore to Banihal for THE LeT ‘District Commander’ Abu Moosa. The militant'' Ghulam Hassan'' son of Abdullah Pachu, a resident of Baba Khari, Banihal was arrested from a vehicle from Banihal bus stand.

  • October 1-2: Four LeT militants surrounded by the SFs at Galut in the Mendhar sector of Poonch District, remained trapped for second day. Senior Superintendent of Police (Poonch) Manmohan Singh, security and Police teams were being sent to forests from different directions to eliminate the militants. However, no contact was established with the militants after last night''s firing.

  • October 1: A LeT militant was shot dead by the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel during an encounter at Galut forests in Harni area under Mendhar tehsil (revenue unit) of Poonch District, when four cadres of the outfit were tying to infiltrate.

  • September 30: Pakistan''s investigation into the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known as 26/11) has concluded that LeT militants carried out the assault, according to a media report in The New York Times, which also said some people in the Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), knew about the plot but "closed their eyes." A dossier compiled by Pakistani investigators stated  that LeT recruits for the attack were vetted and trained in different parts of Pakistan including at well-established camps in Muzafarrabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and in Mansehra in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). "A core group, the 10 chosen for the Mumbai assault, was eventually moved to Karachi and its suburbs, where the real drilling began and where Pakistani investigators later retraced the plotters' steps," the report said. "The investigation concludes beyond any reasonable doubt that it was Lashkar militants who carried out the Mumbai attacks, preying on their victims in a train station, two five-star hotels, a cafe and a Jewish centre over three days starting last November 26," the daily report added. Quoting a "highly placed" LeT militant, the English daily said that the Mumbai attackers were part of groups trained by former Pakistani military and intelligence officials at LeT camps. "Others had direct knowledge that retired Army and ISI officials trained Lashkar recruits as late as last year. Some people of the ISI knew about the plan and closed their eyes," The New York Times quoted the militant as saying.

    Further, quoting the Indian and Pakistani dossiers on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the news paper beginning as early as May 2008, the group trained and planned brazenly while living in various neighbourhoods in and around Karachi. "They made scores of calls using cell phones, some with stolen numbers, starting in August. They set up voice lines over the Internet." At one water sports shop, they bought inflatable boats, air pumps, life jackets and engines. One of their training camps, with five thatched rooms and a three-room house, was located near a creek, where they conducted water drills in the open. Working from Millat Town, a dusty, middle-class Karachi suburb on the eastern edge of the city, Sadiq organised the cadre. "Neighbours described him as quiet and pious, riding around the streets with his two young sons perched on his motorbike. The Pakistani dossier says he was a committed Lashkar militant." the daily reports Using handwritten manuals, the recruits were trained how to use cell phones to keep in contact with their handlers during the attack. They pored over detailed maps of the Indian coastline, plotting the course they would take to Mumbai. They learned how to use global positioning devices, the report said.

  • September 29: A Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) document said that there are at least 700 terrorists in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and 1350 terrorists in Pakistan waiting to infiltrate across the Line of Control (LoC), before the winter. The terrorists are mostly hiding in camps across PoK, which are still thriving and breeding grounds for the terrorists, ready to infiltrate. The militants belong to LeT, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM).

  • September 29: Pakistan-based LeT is ‘largely intact’ and ‘determined to strike India again’, former and current members of the group and intelligence officials said. Despite pledges from Pakistan to dismantle militant outfits operating on its soil, and the arrest of a handful of operatives, the LeT has persisted and even flourished, since 10 recruits killed over 180 people in Mumbai mayhem on November 26, 2008, The New York Times reported.

    Indian and Pakistani dossiers on the Mumbai investigations, copies of which were obtained by the US daily, offer a detailed picture of the operations of Lashkar network that spans through Pakistan. It included four houses and two training camps in Karachi that were used to prepare the attacks. In fact, Lashkar's broader network endures, and can be mobilised quickly for elaborate attacks with relatively few resources, the daily quoted Lashkar members and intelligence officials from the US, Europe and Pakistan as saying. But by all accounts Lashkar's network, though dormant, remains alive, and the possibility that it could strike India again makes Lashkar a wild card in one of the most volatile regions of the world, the report said. One 'highly placed' Lashkar militant said the Mumbai attackers were part of some groups trained by former Pakistani military and intelligence officials at Lashkar camps, adding, "Some people of the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) knew about the plan and closed their eyes." Even as new details emerge about the Mumbai attacks, senior American military, intelligence and counterterrorism officials have expressed grim certainty that the LeT is plotting new attacks.

    The United States warned Indian officials this year about a Mumbai-style attack by Lashkar against multiple sites in India, according to a senior US counterterrorism official. The unnamed counterterrorism official said that the information, gleaned from electronic intercepts and other sources, was not specific but it was significant enough for American officials to alert their Indian counterparts. "There were indications of possible terrorist activity in the run-up to the Indian elections," in May, "and that information was shared promptly with Indian officials," the US daily quoted the counterterrorism official as saying. Pakistani officials, however, say they''ve been kept in the dark. But, if there is one thing on which the intelligence agencies agree, it is that the consequences of a new attack by Lashkar could be devastating, the daily said. "We do fear that if something like Mumbai happens in India again there might be a military reaction from the Indian side and it could trigger into a war. Right now we cannot guarantee that it''ll not happen again because we do not have any control over it," a Pakistani official said.

  • September 28: Two Pakistani LeT militants, who were allegedly planning suicide attacks in the Srinagar, and a woman were among four persons killed in an encounter in the Tral area of Pulwama District. An encounter broke out between the militants hiding at Mohalla Sheikhpora in the Amlar area of Tral town after the Security Forces (SFs), acting on specific information, cordoned of the village in the morning, a Police spokesman said. "As soon as the cordon was laid, the militants opened indiscriminate firing, which resulted in injuries to two CRPF jawans and a civilian woman identified as Taja Begum," he said. During the operation, three militants were killed. The deceased were identified as Abu-Dujana, Abu-Zahid alias Abu Shahid (both Pakistani nationals) and local militant Mehraj-ud-Din alias Zaffar Sidique. All the three slain militants were affiliated to the LeT. Taja, "who got injured in the course of cross firing, later succumbed to injuries," the spokesman added. The SFs recovered cache of arms and ammunition from the encounter site. The recoveries include three, AK 47 rifles, 10 AK 47 magazines, 180 rounds of AK ammunition, three hand grenades, one smoke grenade, one wireless set and a mobile phone.

    Mehraj-ud-Din, who was also operating under the codename Salman Sajad, was involved in the killing of 60-year-old Abdul Satar of Monghama in the Tral area some time back. The Two Pakistani militants were potential fidayeen suicide bombers), who were planning suicide attacks in Srinagar. "Police had been receiving information with regard to the infiltration of two Pakistani Fidayeen (suicide) terrorists. Their movements were tracked as they were moving from North Kashmir Range to South Kashmir Range and lodged themselves in the Tral area with the help of some over ground workers (OGWs)," the spokesman further said.

    In addition, a LeT militant was arrested in the Baramulla District and arms and ammunition were recovered from his possession. On specific information, the SF personnel arrested Altaf Ahmad Mir alias Sohail, son of Ghulam Nabi Mir, resident of Chanji Mulla and recovered one AK rifle, three magazines, 81 rounds and four hand grenades from his possession.

  • September 27: The Police arrested two persons with alleged links to the LeT  from the Baramulla District and recovered an AK-47 rifle from them. The duo - Nazir Ahmad Rather and Hilal Ahmad Rather - were arrested from Takia-Wagoora, 60 kilometres from Srinagar.

  • September 25: The Police arrested three Over Ground Workers (OGWs) of the LeT in the Srinagar city, Daily Excelsior reported. Srinagar Police arrested the three OGWs at Saida Kadal Rainawari and recovered a hand grenade and a detonator from their possession. They were arrested after their vehicle was intercepted by a Police party at Saida Kadal. The arrestees were identified as Gowhar Ahmad Rather son of Mohammad Abdullah Rather, resident of Chandrigam Tral in Pulwama District, Aqib Ahmad Mir son of Mohammad Maqbool Mir and Amir Ahmad Wani son of Ali Mohammad Wani, both residents of Nowpora Tral. After interrogation, they deposed that the vehicle was to be handed over to LeT militants at Tral. The Police spokesman said a "tragedy was averted" by the seizer of the vehicle as the arrested OGWs had revealed that it was to be used for making a car-Improvised Explosive Device.

  • September 24: The JuD [the LeT front] chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed has neither been formally arrested nor put under house arrest, Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tariq Saleem Dogar said, adding, that the Police had merely "restricted his movement." The IGP also claimed that Punjab Police had solved all major cases of terrorism, including the suicide bombing targeting the 15 building in Lahore and other attacks in Rawalpindi and had arrested suspects. "The involvement of the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing in any incident of terrorism in Punjab has yet to be determined as investigations are underway and all those arrested so far are Pakistanis," added Dogar.

  • September 23: Four militants, including one ‘District Commander’ of the Hiz-bul-Mujahideen (HM) and LeT each, an Army Major and a Marine commando were killed during two separate encounters in the Baramulla and Bandipora Districts, taking the death toll in the two-days gun battle to eight, official sources said.

  • September 22-23: In the encounter at Banyari village in the Bandipora District, the Army eliminated HM 'District Commander' Pasha and the LeT ‘District Commander’ Moosa. Army Major, G. S. Suri, and a trooper, Khushal, were killed when they sustained bullet injuries during initial firing from militants as they entered a house where the militants were hiding. "A team of Army officers and soldiers entered a house at Banyari last evening (September 22). They came under heavy firing from militants in which four of them were injured. Major Suri and Naik Khushal were killed while two others managed to steer to safety in an injured condition," the sources said. "Two officers -- Major Gautam Raj Reshi and Major Kamlesh Kumar, NCO Mahipal Singh and Sepoy Naveen were injured," they added. The militants were hiding in a house which was cordoned off by the Security Forces (SFs) and, as reported earlier, reinforcements were rushed to spot and the house was cordoned off to prevent the militants from escaping from the spot, leading to a fierce exchange of firing between the two holed up militants and the SFs. Pasha, a foreign militant, was active in the area for the last more than 10 years and was considered to be the driving force behind many attacks on the SFs and political workers. Moosa, who was working in close coordination with the HM militants recently, was also wanted by the SFs for the last couple of years, the sources said.

  • September 19: A LeT militant was killed in an encounter with the Police in the Dessa area of Doda District. On a tip-off, the Special Task Force of Police launched an operation at Kandi Dhar area of Dessa tehsil (revenue unit), 220 kilometres from Jammu. The militant opened fire on the Police. In the retaliatory action, the LeT militant, identified as Noor Hussain alias Chota Hamza was killed, Police said. Police also recovered a 303 rifle and a Chinese grenade from the possession of the slain militant.

    Meanwhile, seven suspected militants were arrested in Doda and Srinagar Districts. Five kilograms of RDX, a hand grenade and a rifle were also recovered, the Police said on September 20. On a tip-off, the Police raided a hideout at Ghar Sungle in the Doda District and arrested three militants. A 12-bore rifle, two letter pads of the LeT, 17 electrical detonators, a wireless set and a cigarette packet containing explosive sticks were also recovered. In another operation four suspected militants were held on the outskirts of Srinagar.

  • September 18: The Intelligence Bureau (IB) sources said that all coastal State Director Generals of Police (DGPs) have been sent alert mails to increase patrolling in the wake of terrorist threat from sea. IB sources also warned that the attacks vessels would be launched from an Iranian port and a Gulf financier is believed to be behind the terror plans. The development has came barely hours after Israel warning India that a Pakistan-based LeT, affiliated to al-Qaeda, is planning to carry out a string of terror attacks across India.

    However, taking note of Israel's warning, the Union Government on September 18 said that it was fully prepared to deal with any situation, adds Times of India. "We are fully prepared and we will take care of whatever situation arises," a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spokesperson said.

    Meanwhile, to strengthen its security apparatus along the 1600 kilometre long coast line in the State, Gujarat Government has decided to create a marine commando unit and recruit 600 commandos. A senior official in the State Home Department said that the marine commando unit would be created and its headquarters would be located in Jamnagar District in Saurashtra. "We have finalised the details of the project and also framed the criteria for recruitment of the commandos," he said. In addition, the State Home Department has also sent a proposal to the Union Government for setting up 12 Coastal Police Stations in the State.

  • September 18: The militants shot dead two Special Police Officers (SPOs) and managed to decamp with their weapons at Shikri Top in Marmat area of Doda District. Senior Superintendent of Police of Doda District said that three SPOs, who were on way back home at Gajot from Sadak post in hilly Marmat area of Doda District, were intercepted by a group of five to seven militants at Shikri Top at 5 pm (IST). The militants had laid a ‘C’ type ambush for the SPOs from thick growth of vegetation. Two SPOs were killed on spot while third one managed to survive taking cover behind the crops. As Police personnel from their Sadak post and Security Forces (SFs) rushed to the spot, the militants managed to escape. SFs have launched a massive search operation in the area to arrest the militants suspected to be cadres of the LeT outfit. The SPOs killed in the firing were identified as Abdul Gani and Riaz Ahmad, residents of Gajot. Another SPO, Mohammad Yaqoob, managed to survive with minor bruises and later informed Police and SFs about the ambush. The militants also took away one Insas rifle, a pistol and three mobile telephones from slain SPOs while Yaqoob saved his AK-47 rifle. According to sources, the killing of SPOs was a possible retaliation by the militants to the elimination of their over 20 top associates in Doda District during last three months.

    Meanwhile, the Police arrested three LeT militants from Bhaderwah town in Doda District and recovered arms, ammunition and explosive devices from their possession. The arrested militants were identified as Dawood Ahmad Khan son of Abdul Rashid Khan, Nazir Ahmad son of Abdullah Khan and Abdul Majeed Khan, son of Ghulam Hassan Khan, all residents of Sungli, Bhaderwah. one cigarette packet of a Pakistan made company ‘Ruili River’ fitted with a detonator, 17 electronic detonators, one Alinco wireless set, one 12 bore gun, a letter head of LeT and some ammunition were recovered from their possession.

  • September 17: Israel has warned that a Pakistan-based terror outfit affiliated to al-Qaeda, which carried out the November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) Mumbai attacks to hit Western and Israeli targets, is planning to carry out a string of terrorist attacks across India. India blames Pakistani-based LeT  for the 26/11 attacks in which 10 militant killed over 186 persons in a three-day rampage through Mumbai. “The terrorist group that carried out the serious Mumbai attack in India is planning to carry out a number of attacks across India, particularly against concentrations of Western or Israeli tourists,” warned a statement from Israel's counter-terrorism bureau at the National Security Council (NSC). Among the targets hit was a Jewish centre run by the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement. The statement warned the impending attacks could target other Lubavitch centres in India. The statement said the travel warning was based on “a concrete, very serious threat.” The warning called on Israeli travellers to stay away from crowded places and the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.

    The authorities registered two cases against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the 'chief' of the banned JuD [the LeT front)], on charges of delivering anti-State sermons and collecting charity to fund terrorist activities.  The cases were registered in Faisalabad with the Madina Town Police Station and the People's Colony Police Station in Punjab.

    The Defence Ministry sources said that around 300 militants are waiting across the Line of Control (LOC) in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for an opportunity to infiltrate into India, prompting the Army to strengthen its anti-insurgency security grid. The militants have been spotted moving in batches from place to place along the LoC, apparently in search of vulnerable spots from where they could infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir. The attempt was to push in as many militants as possible before the onset of winter when snowfall will make the mountainous terrains impregnable, the sources said. In the recent times, there have been a number of attempts at infiltration, many times accompanied by firing from across the LoC to provide cover to such bids. Security Forces have killed at least 25 terrorists while foiling these infiltration attempts in August 2009 and these encounters took place at the points along the LoC. Most of these terrorists come from militant outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Al Badr and HM, sources added further. Sources also put the number of terrorists currently operating in Jammu and Kashmir at 600. About 150 of these terrorists were foreign mercenaries, aided and abetted by the Pakistan.

  • September 16: LeT militant Aslam Kashmiri (27) had undergone training in Pakistan much before lone arrested terrorist Mohammad Ajmal alias Kasab and his nine other cadres were trained to carry out the November 26, 2008 (also known as 26/11) Mumbai terrorist attacks, says Mumbai Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS). Kashmiri was first arrested by the Delhi Police's special cell on August 25, and brought to the custody of the ATS of Mumbai Police on September 14. Kashmiri underwent training in the Pakistan's Muridke in 2006 and the handlers for him as well as the Kasab group were the same, the Police said. Kashmiri, who studied at Lucknow University in 2003-2005, had obtained a bachelor's degree in Persian. "I met Zarar Shah and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakvhi, (LeT operatives in Pakistan) during the training. They had come to oversee the training programme,'' Kashmiri told the Police. Shah and Lakhvi were accused in the 26/11 attack. However, the Police are yet to establish if Kashmiri knew any of the 10 LeT militants who terrorised Mumbai for three days. "We are questioning him and trying to establish his role in the arms haul case. It's too early to comment on it,'' said ATS Additional Commissioner Sukhvindar Singh. Kashmiri is suspected to have played a key role in 2006 Aurangbad arms haul case where the ATS claimed to have seized State's second biggest consignment- 43 Kilograms RDX. Besides, 16 AK-47 rifles, hand grenades and over 3,200 live bullets were also seized. Kashmiri was booked in this case under the stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). "Preliminary inquiries revealed Kashmiri sent four youths to Pakistan for training in terror. Our teams are continuously working on the case and trying to get more information,'' ATS Chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi said. Kashmiri is suspected to have arranged the trip of youth to Pakistan via Nepal and Bangladesh to Pakistan for training, said Police. The youth would be imparted with 21-day training in assembling bombs and operating fire arms, they added.

  • September 15: In a sudden development across the Line of Control, Pakistan army and the militant commanders of LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen have called back all local militants of this part of the State, who had for the past several months, abandoned the training camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and started working in shops and other business concerns within PoK and Pakistan. While exact number of the militants from Jammu and Kashmir, held up in PoK after training, was not available, intelligence inputs revealed that nearly 1000 of them had left the training camps of militants with the consent of LeT and HM commanders during last about a year and started working in shops and business houses. Many of them got engaged by the militant 'commanders' themselves at that time. Reports, however, suggested that the LeT and HM 'commanders' have sent messages to all these militants asking them to immediately report back to the training camps or face consequences. The messages to these militants were sent through over ground network of the militants as well as Police. The militants, majority of whom hailed from Kashmir valley besides Doda belt, Rajouri and Poonch Districts of Jammu region, have responded to the 'dictates' of militants and returned to the camps of militant outfits. The cadres, who have not returned so far, are being searched by the militants themselves to bring them back to the camps.

    A suspected LeT militant, Aslam Kashmiri, was produced before a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, which sent him to Police custody till September 29. Kashmiri is suspected to have sent at least four youths to Pakistan for training in terror, a senior Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) official said. "Preliminary inquiries revealed Kashmiri sent four youths to Pakistan for training in terror,'' ATS chief Krish Pal Raghuvanshi said. Kashmiri was first arrested by the Delhi Police's special cell on August 25, 2009 was brought to Mumbai on September 13 in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case. The ATS confirmed Kashmiri alias Yusuf alias Saleem's role in the arms haul case.

  • September 14: Expressing concern over cross-border terrorism, the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram cautioned that terrorist groups, including the LeT and the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), were persisting in their attempts to launch terror attacks against India with the support they found among disgruntled elements within India, The Hindu reported. "They [LeT and JeM] continue to innovate new ways and means of deniability. Cells and modules within India lend an Indian character to these activities. Through community policing and other innovative measures we must detect and deny any opportunity to our adversaries. Intelligence is the key. We were able to bust 12 terrorist modules in 2008 and, in the first half of the current year, we have been able to neutralise 13 modules." Chidambaram said while delivering the inaugural address at the three-day annual conference of State Police chiefs and Inspectors-General (IG), organised by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in New Delhi. He said that there were attempts from across the border to forge unity among separatists in Jammu and Kashmir and escalate violence. Chidambaram spoke about his goals in internal security and policing over the next five years. He described the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known as 26/11) as a "game changer," saying "we can no longer afford to do business as usual." "Let me state our position clearly. On terrorism, our stance is zero tolerance. We shall raise our level of preparedness to fight any terror attack and, in the case of threat or attack, our response will be swift and decisive," he said, adding that Policing in India was always a challenge and after 26/11, it became graver.

    He pointed out that the large scale diversion of development funds to militants gives them easy access to critical resources which helps them recruit new cadres as well as procure arms, adds Times of India. "This conference should dwell on finding workable ways and means to curb illegal diversion of funds to the militants." Chidambaram urged.

  • September 11: Security threats to India from militant groups operating from Pakistani soil have not diminished, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in Washington. He also said that there was an increase in infiltration from Pakistan in the last four months. He conveyed New Delhi's concerns during meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and top security officials of the U.S President Barack Obama administration. Completing his four-day U.S. visit, Chidambaram told journalists in Washington that he was going back to India with a "lot of ideas." One of these was establishing something on the lines of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre of the U.S. Set up in 2004 under a presidential utive order, the centre, staffed by over 500 personnel drawn from 16 departments and agencies, spearheads U.S. efforts to combat terrorism at home and abroad by analysing threat perceptions and sharing information with friendly countries. Chidambaram reportedly met National Security Adviser James Jones, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney-General Eric H. Holder Jr. Early. Chidambaram said that he had told the U.S. officials about Pakistan not prosecuting perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, including the mastermind Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who was roaming free in that country despite evidence provided by India. "I did brief them on the state of the trial of Amir Ajmal 'Kasab' [the lone surviving LeT militant in 26/11 Mumbai attack] in India and I also did mention about no progress in Pakistan in respect of the five or six people they have arrested. And Hafiz Sayeed remains a free man. I think that is enough. They know to draw the lessons from that statement," Chidambaram added.

    In addition, the Union Home Minister has given to U.S. officials a list of 60 Pakistani terrorists killed by Indian Security Forces (SFs) in various encounters in different parts of the country and 10 others arrested in the last one year, adds Times of India. A top Government official said that Chidambaram had compiled the list before leaving for the U.S. for a four-day visit and shared it with the U.S. officials. "Their names and addresses in Pakistan were given in the list," the official said.

    Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi stated that no dossier on Balochistan was handed over to the Indian Prime Minister Manmonah Singh. "No, we didn't. Actually, we flagged the issue on Balochistan. We asked for a positive attitude and asked for non-interference inside Balochistan," Foreign Minister said. He also questioned the visit of Indian Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to the US which is seen by Pakistan as an attempt to put pressure on it to take action against the LeT’s founder Hafiz Saeed, who was the mastermind behind the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

  • September 10: The Security Force personnel neutralised two hide-outs of militants in the Bari Behak forests at Falsa Top in the Mahore area of Reasi District and recovered a cache of ammunition and ration items. The Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Udhampur-Reasi range, Gulzar Singh Slathia said the hide-out belonged to LeT outfit. Recoveries made from the hide-out include 120 AK rifle bullets, three AK magazines, 10 Pika rounds, one wireless set with antenna, one binocular and several bags of ration. The ration was enough to feed half a dozen militants for two to three months.

    Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik in an interview said that Pakistan is still studying the evidence provided by India against the LeT/ Jamat-ud-Dawa founder, and could not take action against him on the basis of "hearsay", according to The Hindu. Malik also said India must stop blaming Pakistan for not being cooperative in the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known as 26/11) case. He attributed any delays to "foot-dragging" by New Delhi in providing information the Pakistani investigators had asked for. The Minister repeated his demand for information on the Samjhauta Express attack, once again drawing a link between those behind the February 2007 firebombing of the India-Pakistan train, in which more than 60 Pakistanis were killed, and the Mumbai attacks. He also reiterated Pakistan's claims of "ample evidence" of the alleged Indian hand in Balochistan. Commenting on India''s demand for action against Hafiz Saeed for his role in the Mumbai attacks, the Minister said India's latest information dossier had arrived "only 10 days ago" - it was given on August 21 - "and we need a few days to evaluate its veracity and also whether it can take the test of our courts. We cannot operate on hearsay alone." He added another message for India: "We respect your courts. You respect ours."

  • September 6: India has never ruled out the involvement of state actors in Pakistan in the Mumbai terror attacks despite Islamabad''s contention to the contrary, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said. "We have never ruled out (involvement of) State actors. Although Pakistan has maintained that only non-State actors were involved, we have never ruled out the involvement of state actors and we have never accepted this distinction between state actors and non-state actors because both operated from Pakistani soil," he told NDTV. He was replying to a question on possible links of the Pakistan Army in the attacks as Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief and mastermind of November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known 26/11), Hafiz Saeed, was accompanied by one ''Major General Saab'' during a meeting with the lone arrested Mohammad Ajmal Amir ''Kasab'' and other Mumbai terrorist attacks accused at a training camp. "Well that [involvement of Pakistan army] can only be revealed by investigation," he said. Chidambaram termed as "atrocious" Pakistan's decision to let off Saeed in the Mumbai case. "There is enough and more evidence to continue the investigation against Hafiz Saeed. On the face of this evidence, to let him off, I think, is atrocious," the Union Home Minister said. "… So they know what we have but if there is an opportunity, I will certainly walk them through the dossier to point out that there is enough evidence [against the JuD chief]," the Home Minister said.

  • September 5: The SFs shot dead a LeT 'commander' in the Bathoi Jagnan area of Mahore sub-division of Reasi District. An official spokesman said that on the basis of specific information about the presence of a hardcore LeT militant in the house of Mohammed Nazir in Bathoi Jagnan area, a joint operation of the Mahore Police and Rashtriya Rifles (61st battalion) was launched in the early hours. When the operation was going on, the hiding militant opened fire on the SFs. In the consequent encounter, the militant, identified as Mohammad Avais alias Abu Jindal, a resident of Kharian area in Pakistan, was killed. From the encounter site, the troops recovered one AK-47, three magazines, 60 rounds of AK, three mobile hand-sets, some SIM cards and diaries. The SFs continued the cordon in the area as another LeT militant, identified as Mohammed Rafiq, was believed to be hiding in the area, the spokesman said.

    An over-ground worker (OGW) of the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) and Lashkar-e-Taiba was arrested from the Bus Stand area of Kishtwar town in the afternoon of September 4. A Police spokesman said that a joint team of Army and Police apprehended the OGW when he was carrying some items for the militants to their destination. He was identified as Akhtar Hussain (19), a resident of Patti Mahal. Three I-cards, a mobile phone and some other items were recovered from his possession. The Police said he was a surrendered militant of the LeT outfit. He had surrendered before Rashtriya Rifles (11th battalion) in 2007.

  • September 2: A division bench of the Lahore High Court granted bail to 11 activists of the Jama'at-ud-Da'awa (JD, the LeT front), who were in jail since the UN imposed sanctions on the JD, The News reported. Abdul Shakoor, Muhammad Hanif and others were arrested from Bahawalnagar under the Anti-Terrorism Act. During the course of hearing, Deputy Prosecutor General Chaudhry Jamshed argued that the JD was a banned organisation but its activists continued collecting funds, distributing religious literature and doing other activities. However, the accused-petitioner's counsel Irshadullah Chatta stated that there was no notification regarding the ban on JD. He argued that an organisation could not be banned until a notification under Section 11 B was issued. He said the Government had already admitted in the Hafiz Saeed case that it had no substantial evidence against the JD. The bench comprising Chief Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif and Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry after hearing the arguments granted them bail against surety bonds of PKR 100,000 each. The released JD activists included Muhammad Siddiq, Abbas Dogar, Saeed Amir, Arif Ali, Muhammad Akram, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, Master Abdul Shakoor and Muhammad Anwar.

  • September 1: Yet another infiltration attempt, backed by Pakistan troops, was made by a group of Pakistani militants from the Line of Control (LoC) at Sagra village in the Mendhar sector of Poonch District. An Army trooper is reported to have died in the firing from across the LoC. "It was being ascertained as to whether the bullet was fired by Pakistan army or the militants trying to sneak-in. The bullet was fired from a sniper rifle which was available with top commanders of LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen militants", official sources told the Daily Excelsior. The Indian Army is reported to have sought a flag meeting with Pakistan army commanders on the LoC to lodge a protest on both aspects - the cease-fire violation and infiltration attempt by the militants.

    According to sources, Pakistan army and Rangers have been using a new modus operandi on the LoC as well as the International Border (IB) to push militants. They first target forward Indian posts and then try to push the militants by diverting the attention of the Security Forces. However, the Pakistan army and Rangers have not succeeded in their plan so far, sources added.

    The arrested top leader of the India Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), Mufti Obaidullah, revealed during interrogation that militants fighting in Jammu and Kashmir have regularly used Bangladesh as a transit point to travel to Pakistan and have built safe havens in that country to shelter and train militants for terrorist operations in the region, reports Daily Star. Obaidullah said Pakistani militants crossed the Line of Control (LoC) to enter India to run terrorist operations and fight with Government forces in Jammu and Kashmir and then cross the border into Bangladesh to fly back to Pakistan. "As it was tough to cross back to Pakistan through the India-Pakistan border, the Mujahideen would cross to Bangladesh and then left for their destinations using fake passports and visas," the interrogation statement said. He said that his student Selim and close associate Jalal helped him in this operation. Obaidullah also said he had built a safe-home in Habiganj in 2002 to shelter fugitive terrorists, and recruit and train Bangladeshis to take part in terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, India and Pakistan. Obaidullah reportedly built the safe-shelter under the cover of a kindergarten named ''Noor Shah Islami Kindergarten'' in Habiganj District. One of the operations chiefs of the LeT in Bangladesh, Faisal alias Khurram Khaiyam alias Abdullah, supplied BNR 18,000 in two installments to Obaidullah to construct the house.

    In his statement, Obaidullah said that several other militants in Bangladesh visited his safe-home, including Moulana Mohiuddin, who he knew from the Deoband madrassa (seminary), and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B) leader Mufti Abdur Rouf. Later, the then ARCF chief, Asif Reza, ordered Habibullah and Jamal to open a training camp for Bangladeshi recruits that would also serve as a safe shelter for Pakistani and Indian militants, according to Obaidullah''s statement. In 2005, Obaidullah met ARCF chief Amir Reza, Asif Reza''s brother, at Khurram''s house near the Noorani mosque in Dhaka''s Goran area.

  • August 27: One LeT militant was shot dead in an encounter with the Security Forces (SFs) in the Keshwan area of Kishtwar District. The slain militant was later identified as Mohammad Yusuf alias Abu Salim. 

  • August 26: India has shared the latest dossier on Jama'at-ud-Da'awa (JuD) chief and mastermind of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks (also known as 26/11) Hafiz Saeed with 15-16 countries whose nationals were killed in the attacks.  "We would urge these countries to bring pressure on Pakistan to launch prosecution against Hafiz Saeed," Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram told journalists in New Delhi on August 26. Reacting to Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik's statement that India's Dossier on Hafiz Saeed did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute him, Chidambaram said he was surprised at such a statement coming as it did from a responsible Minister. "If the Government of Pakistan asks any lawyer about the evidence contained in the Dossier, he would then say there is enough evidence to prosecute Hafiz Saeed. It is enough for it to set up a Special Investigation Team and follow on leads in the dossier to bring charges against Hafiz Saeed," he added. 

    The Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice against LeT militants Zarar Shah and Abu al-Qama for their involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

    Mohammad Aslam, the suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant arrested at the New Delhi railway station on August 25 was produced in a city court, which remanded him to 14-day Police custody. The Special Cell of the Delhi Police sought Aslam's custody, submitting that he had to be taken to Maharashtra and Gujarat for investigations. The Police believe he was previously involved in some terrorist activities in Gujarat. During interrogation, Aslam reportedly revealed that he had come to Delhi from Jammu in the morning of August 25. He had been tasked to deliver the raw material for assembling Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) to some cadres of a LeT module in Aurangabad in Maharashtra.  Aslam, who pursued his education in Gujarat and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), is alleged to have revealed several names. Efforts are on to zero in on his contacts, including those he had initiated into terrorism.

  • August 25: A suspected LeT militant was arrested at the Ajmeri Gate side of the New Delhi railway station shortly before he was to board a train for Maharashtra. According to the Delhi Police, a Pakistani passport identifying him as 27-year-old Yusuf, a Jammu and Kashmir identity card bearing his name as Salim, a consignment of chemical explosives four detonators and two timers were recovered from his possession. During interrogation the arrested militant identified himself as Mohammad Aslam of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir. "We are cross-checking the information provided by him. He could have been assigned the task of ferrying the consignment," said a Police official. The Police suspect that the militant recently visited Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Police is also trying to ascertain whether the suspect planned to create disturbances during Ganesh Chaturthi (Religious Festival) celebrations in Maharashtra.

    The Interpol issued Red Corner Notices (RCN) against Pakistan based LeT founder chief, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, and mastermind of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. The notices were issued against Saeed and Lakhvi after a Mumbai court issued a non-bailable warrant against the duo for their involvement in the November 26, 2008 (alos known as 26/11) attacks. India also sent proof and requests to issue a similar warrant against LeT commander Zarar Shah and Abu Al Qama. Interpol said it was analysing the evidence against them. The RCN were issued after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) approached the international agency for the same with non-bailable warrants against them. Special Judge M.L. Tahaliyani had issued the warrants, asking the Mumbai Police Commissioner and the CBI Director to ute them through Interpol and produce the accused before the court soon.  

    Saeed had reportedly provided training to terrorists between 2007 and 2008 at Muridke (LeT headquarters), Manshera, Muzzafarabad, Azizabad, and Paanch Teni in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. In December 2008, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) imposed sanctions on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the front organisation of the banned LeT, declaring it a terrorist outfit, and labelled Saeed and Lakhvi as terrorists. The Council asked all its member countries to freeze their assets and impose a travel ban and arms embargo against them. Besides Saeed and Lakhvi, two other top leaders of the LeT — Haji Muhammad Ashraf and Zaki-ur-Bahaziq — have also been declared terrorists by the UNSC. India had sought a ban on the JuD after the LeT was blamed for the attacks in Mumbai.

  • August 23: The Special Operations Group of Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested the 'chief commander' of Al Badr militant outfit in the Sopore area of Baramulla District. Zeenat-ul-Islam, a resident of Shopian District in south Kashmir, was operating under various codenames, including Zahid and Junaid, during his four-year stint as the operations chief of the outfit, official sources said. Zeenat-ul-Islam Shah was active in militancy since 2005 and was operating in the Lolab area of Kupwara District, the Inspector General of Police (Kashmir), Farooq Ahmed, said. He is reported to have shifted to Shopian only two months back. He used to report to top Al-Badr commander Yusuf Baloch in Pakistan. He was reportedly trained in Lolab by Pakistan trainer Sikander in 2005.

    A laptop and some documents were recovered from his possession. Official sources described the arrest of Zeenat as a major success of anti-militancy operations in Kashmir as he was trying to recruit new militants for fanning militancy while finding over-ground workers to guide the recently infiltrated militants from across the Line of Control to interior areas of the Kashmir Valley. Security agencies have reportedly been on his trail for the past couple of years after it emerged that he was coordinating operations with the LeT and other outfits in south Kashmir. 

  • August 21: The Government of India handed over fresh information on the November 26, 2008 terrorist attacks (also referred to as 26/11) in Mumbai to Pakistan. Additional information about the role of the Jama'at-ud-Da'awa (also known as Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT]) chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed in 26/11 was reportedly given. The information on Saeed, officials claimed, was "cogent and convincing evidence" to prosecute him. Without disclosing details, sources in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the new information comprised "fresh investigation details produced before the trial court in Mumbai". The official also said, "Reading of the material before the Mumbai trial court clearly pointed to the role of Saeed. This warrants further investigation and evidence on record should certainly lead to Saeed's prosecution." 

    According to sources, India handed over two sets of information - the first being new evidence and information emerging at the trial in Mumbai on 26/11 and second, information on threats of terrorist attacks from Pakistan as referred to by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on August 17 at the Chief Ministers conference on Internal Security in New Delhi.  The second set of information reportedly includes information based on intercepts of terrorists'' chatter as well as arrests of terrorists that shows Pakistan-based terrorist groups are continuing to plan attacks in India.

  • August 19: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said he was apprehensive that the Pakistan-based LeT may target the State. "We cannot rule out (LeT’s threat). If you ask me if I have any definite proof, we may not have that, but I have my apprehensions. These people, you do not know how they work," Gogoi said. On being asked about any intelligence input on whether the LeT may target Assam, he said "Yes. I have no doubt. According to me, we are not safe." He, however, said the Assam Police is on alert and prepared to thwart any untoward incident. The Chief Minister also said efforts were on to modernise the Assam Police with latest technologies and equipment with the help of the Union Government and the State-run schemes.

  • August 18: The LeT has enforced a new diktat in parts of Jammu and Kashmir asking people not to watch television. LeT militants operating in the Banihal heights of Ramban District have imposed a ban on watching TV - terming it a 'un-islamic' activity. Lashkar militants have reportedly warned villagers of dire consequences if they do not stop watching television. In a recently issued diktat, they have described the television as an epicentre of all problems and blame the same for impregnating evil thoughts in the mind of villagers. In addition to resorting to violence, the Lashkar militants also reportedly pasted a pamphlet on the boundary wall of a mosque.

    Security Forces in the area described the LeT diktat as one of frustration and desperation. The Inspector General of Police (Jammu), Ashok Gupta, said, "These days the television is a very powerful medium which is exposing their lies. So why would they allow it. It is an act of sheer frustration on their part."

    Nine Pakistani infiltrators, including six Balochis, were arrested in the Kutch District. The nine intruders were taken to the Joint Interrogation Cell in Bhuj on August 18. The water wing of the Border Security Force had lodged a complaint at Dayapar Police station in Lakhpat taluka (administrative unit)  after they arrested the intruders for moving suspiciously near the 250-MW Akarimota power plant of the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation near Nani Chher village of Kutch District. The Kutch Superintendent of Police, Wabang Jamir, said, ‘‘It’s too early to say anything. Preliminary interrogation revealed that six of them are Baloch and hence we’re concerned. We will be able to tell more after further interrogation.’’ According to Police, the group of men started from Buddhu port near Karachi in Pakistan. Since the Baloch aren’t traditionally fishermen the authorities reportedly suspect their story that they were out for fishing.

    Earlier, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and various other Security Forces had categorically cautioned the Gujarat Government that the LeT is preparing to infiltrate its cadres through the sea route in villages and towns located north of Koteshwar and Mandvi ports.  LeT intercepts had suggested that their supporters in border areas in Gujarat were to arrange for motorized boats near Koteshwar and Mandvi. The MHA warning had said fishermen would be involved in the landing activity. The alert warned that patrolling activities along the coast need to be intensified and fishermen should be closely watched as certain industrial installations may also be targeted along the coast. Reports indicate that areas north of Koteshwar between Kori and Padala creeks are vulnerable for cross-border infiltration. Another focus of intelligence agencies is reportedly the Savla Pir and Kotri areas, which are also vulnerable areas for infiltration.

  • August 17: A top 'commander' of the LeT was killed by the Security Forces (SFs) in an encounter at village Ladda in the Mahore area of Reasi District. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Udhampur-Reasi range), Gulzar Singh Slathia, said a team of the Army, Police and Special Operations Group was carrying out search operations in Mahore forests following an intercept of LeT that a militant, injured in an encounter with the SFs at Gajna Top in Mahore last week, had taken shelter in a hamlet awaiting treatment.  A Police team which observed his movement is reported to have asked him to surrender. However, the militant lobbed a couple of grenades towards the troops, who retaliated killing the militant on the spot. The slain militant has been identified as Altaf Ahmed, a resident of Ladda. He was operating in parts of Reasi District for more than three years and was involved in several subversive activities. From his possession, Police recovered four grenades, three detonators, one set, one pouch and some documents. With this, a total of eight militants have been killed in Mahore during the last one week in three operations while 12 militants were killed in the area during the past one month.

    Inaugurating the Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said "there is credible information of ongoing plans of terrorist groups in Pakistan to carry out fresh attacks." Stressing that cross-border terrorism remains a most pervasive threat, he cautioned that "the area of operation of these terrorists today extends far beyond the confines of Jammu and Kashmir and covers all parts of our country." Manmohan Singh told the Chief Ministers that in dealing with the terrorist challenge, "we need to be prepared for encountering more sophisticated technologies and enhanced capabilities." He emphasised the need for guarding the sea frontier as vigilantly as the land border.

    Sources said the Prime Minister's warning was based on intercepts of chatter among terrorist leaders, including November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack accused LeT operatives Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Abu al Qama, adds Times of India. The intercepts pointed to a plot for another massive terrorist attack via the sea route involving local LeT modules instead of Pakistani militants. The conspiracy has not ripened yet because of the disarray among the local collaborators of the LeT due to a crackdown on the Indian Mujahideen (IM).

  • August 16: A top militant of the LeT was killed in an encounter with the Security Forces (SFs) in the Pulwama District. A Police spokesman said in Srinagar that "Police and Army have killed a militant in an encounter in Aarmullah area of Pulwama district." The slain militant has been identified as Jan Mohammad Ahangar alias Hamza, a resident of Buchoo in the Pulwama District. One AK rifle, two AK magazines, one hand grenade and four mobile phones were recovered from incident site.

  • August 12: Reinforcing the Pakistan link to the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) told the special court in Mumbai that its probe had established that the terrorists came from Karachi in Pakistan. In a testimony at the trial of the lone surviving LeT militant Mohammed Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, an FBI forensic expert, giving evidence for the first time in India in a terrorism-related case, said the terrorists had used Global Positioning System (GPS), a satellite navigation system, to locate targets. Deposing before Special Judge M.L. Tahaliyani, the FBI official said the GPS devices recovered by the Mumbai Police from the slain terrorists indicated plans for a return journey from Mumbai to Karachi and Rawalpindi. He added, “Way Point” data retrieved from the GPS devices pointed to the route from Karachi to Mumbai and also positions between these two cities. He also said that he had examined five GPS devices and a satellite phone.

    With intelligence agencies giving inputs that the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS, a Hindu organisation) chief Mohan Bhagwat could be targeted by the LeT, the Union Government has asked all States to take special security precautions when the two personalities visit their region. The Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) sources said the Union Government has informed that the former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Azad and Bhagwat are in the LeT hit-list and they could be targeted by the militants anywhere in the country.  Both Azad and Bhagwat have Z-plus security with the former being accorded with the elite Black Cat commando protection along with bullet-proof car.

  • August 10: The detained LeT operatives and Indian nationals - Mufti Obaidullah and Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali - revealed that besides the local chapter of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI-B), some political leaders have been helping the Pakistan-based militant outfit LeT to operate in Bangladesh. Investigators are now working to gather more about them, said sources in the intelligence and security agencies. Officials involved in the ongoing crackdown on militants said they have information that some politicians might have been sheltering LeT cadres as per secret deals with the terrorist group. Though the Security Forces had detained several LeT operatives in the past, they formally admitted the outfit''s existence in Bangladesh only in July 2009 after the Detective Branch of Police arrested Obaidullah and Mansur.

    Earlier, a former investigator of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) told that they had come to know about the existence of LeT and at least seven of its political patrons in Bangladesh during the last Bangladesh National Party - Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) -led Government rule.  But they could not carry the investigation through as they had limitations with the four-party alliance in power. Sources said investigators are confirmed that banned Islamist outfit HuJI-B, has all along been backing LeT operations in Bangladesh. 

    In addition, the local political links became a focus of the investigation after names of some political leaders came up during interrogations of the detained LeT cadres. Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner Monirul Islam who leads the agency''s drive against militancy said, “We are now verifying the information and names we''ve got from the detained Lashkar leaders." He, however, would not say anything about identity of the political leaders suspected of aiding and abetting LeT in Bangladesh. Sources close to Detective Branch say some of the suspects are local level leaders of a political party and some are quite prominent at national level.

    A Sessions Court awarded life imprisonment to a LeT militant and sentenced another militant of the group to 14 years in jail, five years after they were arrested along with AK-56 rifles and ammunition on March 12, 2004, by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police in capital Lucknow, reports The Hindu. Atharuddin was handed down life imprisonment while Mohammed Irfan was awarded a 14-year term under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) and various sections of the Indian Penal Code. District and sessions judge Shivanand Mishra also imposed a total fine of INR 820000 on Atharuddin and INR 470000 on Mohammed Irfan.

  • August 9: Following the security alert of a LeT threat, an eight-member England team withdrew from the World Badminton Championship, a day before the event began at the Gachibowli stadium in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh. This is reportedly the second time that England has pulled out of a badminton tournament in India. Rajiv Ouseph and Carl Baxter withdrew from the India Open Grand Prix in March 2009, citing the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.

  • August 8: Union Minister of Home Affairs, P. Chidambaram, assured that the tournament would take place "in complete security". "I am satisfied that the World Badminton Championship will take place in complete security. No one needs to have any apprehensions on this score," Chidambaram said in a statement.  "The alert in Hyderabad was based on information shared with the State Police in a routine manner. There is no specific information that points to any imminent threat to the badminton championship," Chidambaram added. Chidambaram also   pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh Police had taken all necessary measures to fully secure the tournament and ensure the safety of every player.

  • August 7: The security was tightened at the World Badminton Championship scheduled to begin in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh, on August 10 following specific information by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that the LeT is planning to target it. The information relayed by the Intelligence Bureau to authorities in Andhra Pradesh was that terrorist elements would attempt to strike at the international players as they did against Sri Lankan cricketers in Pakistan recently.  Top-ranked badminton players are scheduled to take part in the World Championships slated to be held at Gatchibowli. The threat of an attack at the international sporting event came a day after intelligence inputs suggested that LeT operatives may target Hyderabad, New Delhi and Kolkata around Independence Day (August 15).

  • August 6: Ahead of the Independence Day on August 15, the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit LeT is planning to target three major cities - Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad - Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials said. Intelligence agencies have given specific inputs that the LeT is planning to target the three cities in the run-up to the Independence Day, an unnamed official said. The Union Government has already shared the information with the Governments of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh besides informing Delhi Police for necessary action. "The next 10 days are very crucial. We are taking all necessary steps to foil the designs of LeT to strike at the three cities," an official said. The intelligence input shared included an interrogation report of some recent arrested terrorist along the Line of Control (LoC) who claimed that they had been tasked to meet some of the terror cells in these cities to carry out attacks ahead of the Independence Day.

  • August 5: The Government announced that 25 extremist and militant groups and welfare organisations affiliated to them have so far been banned because of their involvement in terrorist activities. In a written reply submitted on August 5 in response to a question in the National Assembly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the banned organisations included Al Qaeda, Sipah-e-Mohammed Pakistan (SMP), Tehrik Nifaz-i-Fiqah Jafaria, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, Al Akhtar Trust, Al Rasheed Trust (ART), Tehrik-i-Islami, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Islamic Students Movement, Khairun Nisa International Trust, Tehrik-i-Islam Pakistan, Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), LeT, Lashkar-i-Islam, Balochistan Liberation Army, Jamiat-i-Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan, Hizbut Tehrir, Khuddam-i-Islam and Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan.

    Malik said the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa, Al Akhtar Trust, and Al Rasheed Trust were banned on December 10, 2008, after they were named in the United Nations Security Council Resolution No 1267 and the Sunni Tehrik was placed on the ‘watch list’. He said law-enforcement agencies were closely monitoring their activities and stern action was being taken against people taking part in objectionable activities.

    A plot by the LeT to target forward Army posts and other sensitive installations in border Districts has been averted by the troops who foiled an infiltration attempt by three fidayeen (suicide squad) militants from Sabjian in the Mandi sector of Poonch District in the night in which one infiltrator was killed while two others were forced to retrieve. The infiltrators, all top militants and members of LeT’s suicide squad, had been launched from Cobra 1 post of army in PoK. The intruders took positions at an isolated forest area and opened indiscriminate firing on the troops, who retaliated. The militants also lobbed grenades on the Army personnel. In approximately an hour long encounter close to the LoC, the Army personnel killed one of the infiltrators while two others retrieved to PoK taking cover of darkness. There were no casualties on Army side in the exchange of firing. According to sources, maps of Army posts in forward locations and other sensitive installations of Poonch have been recovered from the possession of the slain militant. More documents seized from the spot confirmed that all three militants were Pakistanis and part of a suicide squad of the LeT outfit. In addition to sensitive maps, other recoveries made from the encounter site include one AK-47 rifle, five magazines, four Chinese grenades, one Pathan suit, 130 AK bullets, a large quantity of dry fruit, mobile phones, batteries, chargers, two wireless sets and one compass.

  • August 4: The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Special Investigation Unit (SIU) arrested another suspect allegedly linked with the LeT. FIA sources said that the SIU was already questioning five suspects, including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, and Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu Al-Qama of Islamabad, Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah of Sheikupura, Shahid Jamil Riaz of Bahawalpur and Hammad Amin Sadiq of Rahim Yar Khan to probe their links with the Mumbai attacks. "The suspects revealed the name of another suspect, Jamil Ahmed, of Battgram during interrogation. Ahmed also allegedly facilitated the acts of terrorism in Mumbai on November 26," they said. The sources said the SIU arrested Ahmed from near his house, adding that the suspect was being interrogated.

  • August 3: The Supreme Court adjourned for an indefinite period the hearing of a petition filed by the federal Government challenging the release of the Jama'at-ud-Da'awa (also known as LeT) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and his close aide Col (r) Nazir Ahmad. A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Jawwad S Khawaja is hearing the case. Attorney General Sardar Latif Khosa told the court on August 3 that the record of the case was with the Punjab Government, but Punjab Advocate General Raza Farooq had resigned and nobody else had been appointed in his place. He said the case could not proceed in the absence of the record, and called on the court to adjourn the proceedings. Advocate A. K. Dogar, representing Hafiz Saeed, did not object to the attorney general’s request – which was accepted by the court. 

    The federal and the Punjab governments had filed separate appeals with the Supreme Court against a Lahore High Court order freeing Hafiz Saeed and Nazir from house arrest. But the Punjab Government later moved an application for the withdrawal of its petition, and told the court that if the federal Government provided fresh evidence against Saeed, the provincial administration would reverse its decision to withdraw the appeal. In its application for the withdrawal of the appeal against Hafiz Saeed, the Punjab Government said the LeT chief and Nazir were put under house arrest on a directive by the federal Government, but the centre had “failed” to provide concrete evidence for their house arrest.

  • August 3: Elements in the intelligence agencies who were sympathetic towards terrorists had resigned and had been arrested, said Interior Minister Rehman Malik, adding they were officers of the rank of Major and wanted to target army generals. He said there have been some elements in the intelligence agencies who have had links with terrorists, including Baitullah Mehsud, Qari Ilyas and Qari Hussain and with banned organisations. 

    To a question, he said South Waziristan had become a hub of anti-state activities and terrorists from various areas, including Hangu, Bajaur and Mohmand agencies, were operating against security forces. He also reportedly said the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) supported the Taliban and Al Qaeda in destabilising the country.

  • August 2: Holding the LeT responsible for the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks, a British parliamentary committee said several major terrorist attacks across the world, including those in London, Madrid, and Bali, had their origins in the tribal areas of Pakistan. 

    A report by the Foreign Affairs Committee quoted a former CIA chief as saying the Pakistan-based LeT had reached a "merge point" with the Al Qaeda. "It was from the tribal areas in Pakistan that the bomb plots in London, Madrid, Bali, Islamabad, and later Germany and Denmark were planned," said the report on 'Global Security: Afghanistan and Pakistan,' headed by lawmaker Mike Gapes. The report said the LeT, which was responsible for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks that targeted Westerners, in particular U.S. and U.K, nationals, also operates from these tribal areas. It added that a section within the Pakistani Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) still feels that "India, rather than the Islamic terrorists," was the main threat to it. "We welcome the increasing recognition at senior levels within the Pakistani military of the need for a recalibrated approach to militancy, but we remain concerned that this may not necessarily be replicated elsewhere within the Army and the ISI," the report said. It welcomed Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's remark that terrorism, not India, was the real threat to his country. However, the report raised doubts over "whether the underlying fundamentals of Pakistani security policy have changed sufficiently to realise the goals of long-term security and stability in Afghanistan."

  • August 1: Arrested LeT militant Moulana Mansur Ali revealed during investigation that the India-based militant outfit Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), which works together with Pakistan-based militant outfit LeT, supplied grenades to LeT-Bangladesh militant leader Moulana Tajuddin for the August 21 attack in 2004. This revelation came as the Government pushes for further investigation into the case, particularly to find if any influential quarters supplied the grenades. Mansur Ali, who was also an ARCF organiser, told Detective Branch during interrogation that an ARFC leader, who is also from India, directly handed over the grenades to Tajuddin. Tajuddin is reportedly the brother of detained former Bangladesh National Party (BNP) deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu. The investigators, however, did not reveal the Indian national''s name for the sake of investigation. 

    Meanwhile, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in its charge sheet only mentioned that Tajuddin had supplied the grenades. But the CID investigators could not find out who handed over the grenades to him and how. The grenade attack on Sheikh Hasina’s rally at Bangabandhu Avenue reportedly killed 23 Awami League leaders and workers and injured over 300 others.

    India handed over to Pakistan a fresh dossier of evidence on the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008 and pressed it to prosecute the prime accused and Jama'at-ud-Da'awa (the LeT front) chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, saying there was "enough" proof to do so. The dossier, comprising a seven-page summary and 60 pages of annexure, contains replies to queries posed by Pakistan with regard to investigation and legal process involved in the 26/11 attacks which were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba.

    The dossier was handed over by T. C. A. Raghavan, Joint Secretary (Pakistan) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), to Pakistan's Deputy High Commissioner Rifat Masood when she was called to the MEA, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said.

  • July 29: Two Army soldiers and a LeT militant were killed in an overnight encounter in the Shopian District. Official sources said in Srinagar that an encounter took place between Security Forces (SFs) and militants at Check Matribugh in the jurisdiction of Shopian Police Station in the two-storied house of Mohammad Maqbool Bhat. One militant was killed in the encounter while another managed to escape from the spot. The slain militant has been identified as Jahangir Ahmad Ganai, a resident of Haf-Shermaal in Shopian. Two wounded Army troopers, Islam-u-Din and Ratibar, succumbed to injuries at the hospital. One AK-47 rifle, four AK magazines and 59 rounds were recovered from encounter site. 

  • July 27: The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, will not be arrested since his alleged involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks has not been proved, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. Malik said Pakistan had demanded details of Indian citizens convicted in the Mumbai attacks, according to Daily Times. He also reportedly said Afghanistan had conceded there were Taliban training camps on its soil and Afghan President Hamid Karzai had ordered immediate closure of such camps.

  • July 27: Maulana Mansur Ali, a arrested LeT cadre and one of the organisers of the Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), confessed to the Police during interrogation that a top ARCF leader, identified as Khurram Khaiyam, had been providing financial support to the LeT cadres who are hiding in Bangladesh. Mansur also said they received the money through another LeT cadre who is also hiding in Bangladesh. However, the Police have declined to disclose his name for the sake of investigation.

    A special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court convicted three persons for their involvement in the bomb blasts at the Gateway of India and the Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai on August 25, 2003, which killed 52 persons and injured 184. Judge M.R. Puranik announced that Haneef Sayyed (46) and his wife Fahmeeda (43) from Marol and Ashrat Ansari (32) from Juhu Galli would be sentenced on August 4. The three were also held guilty of carrying out a bomb blast in a bus at Ghatkopar on July 28, 2003, which killed two people and injured 60, and of planting a bomb, which however did not explode, in a bus in the Santa Cruz Electronics Export Processing Zone. They were convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 427 (damaging property) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. They were also convicted under Sections 3 (damaging property) and 4 (damaging property by fire or explosive) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act Sections 3 (causing an explosion to endanger life) and 4 (making an explosive to endanger life) of the Explosive Substances Act and Sections 5 and 9B (licence for the use of explosives) of the Explosives Act. The mastermind of the blasts, who claimed to be a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, had turned approver.

    The Police claimed that Nasir Ahmed, one of the conspirators, was killed in an encounter in September 2003. However, the couple and Ashrat Ansari were acquitted under Sections 5 and 6 (making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances) of the Explosive Substances Act. "These are very minor offences," said Nikam. The accused were LeT operatives and had committed serious offences. "We will (therefore) argue for the highest punishment." He added.

    Earlier, investigations revealed that the bomb blasts were carried out by cadres of the Gujarat Muslim Revenge Force to avenge the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002. Two other accused — Ansari Ladoowala and Hasan Batterywala — were discharged from the case after a POTA Review Committee gave them a clean chit in 2005. The 16-year-old daughter of Sayyed and Fahmeeda was also an accused, but was later acquitted.

  • July 23: The Police arrested two persons for allegedly damaging equipment of a mobile tower at the behest of the LeT in Kupwara District, a Police spokesman said. "Two persons were arrested in connection with the damage of Mobile tower equipment at Maidanpora, Kupwara," the spokesman said He identified the duo as Mir Saddam Hussain and Abdul Hamid Mir, both residents of Maidanpora. The spokesman said during questioning, the duo confessed that they burnt down the equipment of Airtel/Aircel Tower at the behest of LeT ‘commander’ Abu Hurrera alias Ali. Ali was active in active in the Lolab area of Kupwara District till about 10 months ago but is now operating out of Pakistan, he said, adding that Saddam and Hamid were active over-ground workers of the LeT. One mobile phone and a bottle used for carrying flammable material were recovered from their possession.

    Special judge M. L. Tahaliyani ruled that the confessional statement given by Pakistani national and the lone arrested LeT militant Ajmal Kasab would stay on the records though the trial against him would continue. On July 20, Kasab had pleaded guilty and demanded that he should be punished immediately. Special Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, however, argued that Kasab’s statement was only ‘‘partially true’’ and so the prosecution wanted to continue examining witnesses to establish all the 86 charges against him. Tahaliyani, while passing the order, observed that Kasab had given a ‘‘voluntary confession’’ and his statement could not be removed from the records. ‘‘The trial will proceed. The confession will stay though I will not make any comment on its evidence value at this stage,’’ the Judge added.

  • July 22: The Kerala Police arrested a suspected terrorist, identified as Mohammed Abdul Haleem, for his involvement in the July 2008 Bangalore serial bomb blasts and a series of low-intensity blasts in Kerala in the last decade.  Haleem was arrested from Kannur and brought to Kochi where he was placed under arrest. Police said he was associated with the ultra-Islamic Noorish Tariquat based in Hyderabad and received terror training there.  Meanwhile, the Kochi Police commissioner Manoj Abraham said that the vehicle used to plant bombs in Bangalore was the one stolen by Haleem from Aluva in Ernakulam. Though he was arrested earlier also in connection with the theft, Haleem duped the Police then by stating that it was done to raise money for his wife’s medical treatment. A former cadre of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) founded by Abdul Nasser Madani, Haleem was an aide of Tadiyantavide Nasir, a key LeT militant wanted for the Bangalore bomb blasts case. Police also established his links with Abdul Sattar, another accused in the case.

    The Minister of State for External Affairs, Preneet Kaur, said that Pakistan had not responded to its consistent demand for handing over underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim and other fugitives. “We have consistently asked Pakistan to hand over Ibrahim and others, whom we believe are taking shelter there, to us. The demand has been made in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. But, unfortunately there has been no response from Pakistan so far,” Preneet Kaur told the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) during Question Hour. She said the issue was also brought to the UN Security Council which has declared the LeT and Jama''at-ud-Da''awa as terrorist outfits having links with Dawood Ibrahim.

    The Police arrested a Bangladeshi national with suspected links to the Pakistan-based outfit LeT at Kamalnagar in Satkhira town. The arrestee, identified as Muhaddis Obaidullah, was produced in a Satkhira court on July 23, which placed him on a 10-day Police remand for interrogation. His arrest followed leads from the arrested Indian national and a key organiser of the LeT, Mufti Obaidullah.  Muhaddis is suspected to be an accomplice of Mufti Obaidullah who had taken shelter at his (Muhaddis) house in Satkhira after sneaking into Bangladesh in 1995. "We suspect Muhaddis Obaidullah is a hardcore militant since he had contacts with LeT organiser Mufti Obaidullah and talked to him even two months back,” Satkhira Superintendent of Police S.M. Moniruzzaman said. Muhaddis confessed to the Police that he had come in contact with Mufti Obaidullah while studying at the Sangu Madrassa (seminary) in India for a year. 

    Meanwhile, another detained Indian national and a LeT organiser, Maulana Mohammad Monsur Ali alias Maulana Habibullah, confessed before the Police that he had expertise in making improvised mines and grenades.  Ali said he had training for this when he took part in the war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Intelligence officials interrogating the two detained Indian nationals said that both of them used to get funds from the LeT and Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), through hundi (illegal money laundering mechanism). They also revealed that their main target was non-Muslim countries where Muslims are tortured.

  • July 21: The Detective Branch (DB) of Police disclosed the arrest of another leader of the LeT, Moulana Habibullah. The Additional Deputy Commissioner of DB, Walid Hossain, confirmed the arrest but did not give further details. Habibullah is believed to be the immediate superior of Mufti Obaidullah, who was arrested earlier. 

    A Police officer was killed and three Security Force (SF) personnel injured as militants attacked a camp of the Special Operations Group (SOG) in Shopian District. Official sources in capital Srinagar said that militants fired a rifle grenade at the SOG camp at Imam Sahib in Shopian in the afternoon. The grenade landed and exploded in the compound of the security camp, the sources said. While Special Police Officer Mohammad Shafi succumbed to his injuries at the hospital, three SF personnel were wounded in the blast which created a crater at the landing place in the compound. This is the first grenade attack in Kashmir in the past few months in which a Police officer has been killed. While no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack so far Police officials said the LeT was suspected to be behind the attack.

    The Government admitted that women were being trained in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) to carry out militant activities in India. Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha (Lower house of Parliament), the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Ajay Maken, said, “There are reports to indicate that women are being trained in Pakistan and PoK for terrorist activities.” He added that Pakistan and PoK-based terrorist groups including the LeT were reported to be active in organising acts of terror. He also said, "Available inputs indicate link between terorrist elements and individuals from Bihar."

  • July 20: The lone surviving LeT terrorist in the Mumbai terrorist attacks case, Mohammad Ajmal Amir alias Kasab, confessed to his crime before the Special Sessions Court at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. Kasab also mentioned the name of an Indian national, Abu Jundal, who he claimed “taught us Hindi.” Ajmal spoke for about four hours about the incident, his training and his first encounter with the Mujahideen in Pakistan. He began his testimony with a description of his attack at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) along with his partner Abu Ismail. He traced their journey to the Cama Hospital and also narrated the encounter at Girgaum Chowpatty.

    Meanwhile, calling Kasab’s U-turn as another ploy to mislead the court, Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam said outside the court that it was his ‘intelligence’ training at work. “Kasab did not name Hafiz Saeed. He confessed because the testimonies and the electronic evidence left him with no choice. However, he did not tell the whole truth he hid certain offences and pleaded guilty to reduce his sentence. On July 21 (today), the court will decide whether to accept or reject his plea of guilt,” Nikam said.

    The Detective Branch of Police has arrested another LeT militant from a madrassa (seminary) in the Dakkhin Khan area of the capital Dhaka. The arrestee was an Indian national identified as Moulana Mohammad Mansur Ali. He was also an organiser of the Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), the terrorist outfit responsible for the attack on American Centre in Kolkata on January 22, 2002. Police arrested him following information obtained from Mufti Obaidullah, an Indian LeT operative arrested in Dhaka recently.

  • July 19: Four senior LeT militants who are hiding in Bangladesh are also serving as teachers in different madrassas (seminaries) of the country providing their fake identities like detained Mufti Obaidullah, Detective Branch (DB) sources said. Of the four, Indian national Moulana Mansur Ali and Pakistani national Moulana Habibullah, are teachers of two madrassas in capital Dhaka while two others are outside the capital. Sources, however, refused to disclose the names of two other Indian fugitive militants.

    Meanwhile, the Police are also looking into whether Obaidulla had links to the August 21 grenade attack on an Awami League rally, and bomb attacks at Ramna Batamul and Udichi function in Jessore. DB sources said on the first day of his seven-day remand, Mufti Obaidullah confessed that the LeT and Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF) expanded their networks through former militants who fought in Afghanistan and Jammu and Kashmir and also through the students of Deoband madrassa. Sources suspect that qawmi madrassas have a vital role in setting up of the network as these madrassas gave them shelter and teaching jobs by accepting fake identities. Besides, among the militant outfits active in the country, the Indian militants have closest links with leaders of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI-B), sources added.

  • July 17: The Police arrested two militants of the LeT outfit from the Dalgate area of capital Srinagar. A Police spokesman identified the duo as Mohammad Yousuf Pujoo, a resident of Tarkgam Banihal, and Farooq Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Patnizie Banjaw Kishtwar. One hand grenade, INR 25000, one battery and two LeT letter pads have been recovered from their possession.

    A 36-page dossier handed over by Pakistan has for the first time admitted that the LeT carried out the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks. The dossier terming Lashkar operations chief Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi as the mastermind and admitting the Pakistan nationality of Ajmal Amir Kasab along with some others is said to have prompted India to be more accommodating with Pakistan at the NAM Summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt. Pakistan has reportedly given details on each of the accused, which includes Zarar Shah, who has been identified as the person in-charge of the communications, and there are also details of proclaimed offenders like Ajmal Kasab. The LeT has been referred to as a defunct organisation with no links to other outfits in Pakistan.

    The Pakistan-based LeT has been active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years, intelligence sources said quoting one of the most wanted Indian terrorists recently arrested in the capital Dhaka. Local leaders of the outfit have links to the network of absconding Indian underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim, and also to leaders of other Islamist militant outfits like the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), sources added. The Detective Branch (DB) of Police on July 17 disclosed that they recently arrested an Indian national who is very close to the LeT, and is also one of the most wanted persons by the Indian law enforcing and intelligence agencies. Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said the arrestee has been identified as Mufti Obaidullah, who has been staying in Bangladesh since 1995.  "He was arrested from the capital and was taking preparations for a jihad by organising Bangladeshi mujahids with directives from Ameer Reza, a leader of the Jammu and Kashmir based LeT, who is an Indian national now staying in Pakistan," the DMP Commissioner said. Obaidullah reportedly took part in the Afghan jihad four times and he was active in the militancy in India, in collaboration with militants from Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also collaborated with Islamist militants of Jammu and Kashmir, Varanasi, Punjab, and Hyderabad in India, said the DMP Commissioner, adding that Obaidullah came to Bangladesh to evade Indian intelligence after the Government of India in 1994 had declared him a most wanted person.

    Obaidullah, in detention, said he came to Bangladesh only to hide, and brought his family into the country later. He admitted that he is one of the most wanted persons in India, and said four other most wanted Indians are also hiding in Bangladesh. "In 1994, Indian commandos went to West Bengal from Delhi by helicopters to arrest me, but I managed to evade arrest and later left India," Obaidullah added. He also reportedly managed to get a Bangladeshi national identity card, and cast votes in several elections, Obaidullah said.

    The Counter-Intelligence Cell of Hyderabad Police arrested a LeT financier Shaukatullah Ghauri, believed to have raised funds for multiple terrorist attacks by Islamist terror groups in India. Ghauri, is among the 12 fugitives wanted by the Police in Gujarat for their involvement in the 2002 Akshardham temple attack, which was carried out by the LeT to avenge that year’s communal pogrom in the State. Police sources said that Ghauri, along with his brother Farhatullah Ghauri, funnelled upwards of INR 500,000 from Saudi Arabia-based Islamists to fund Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and LeT jihadist operations in Gujarat.

    Dhaka Police arrested a suspected militant in Dhaka, wanted by Indian authorities for 14 years. Mufti Sheikh Obaidullah (45), who had links with the Kashmir-based militant group LeT, was arrested at a hideout in Dhaka, Police commissioner AKM Shahidul Haq said. “He is a top Indian terror suspect and has been sought by Indian intelligence for many years. He came to Bangladesh in 1995 and has been teaching in different madrassas across the country,” he said. “He was encouraging students to join jihad and we have information that he was training militants here,” he added. Haq said Obaidullah was born in India’s West Bengal state and studied in the Deoband Madrassa in Uttar Pradesh state. He fought in the Afghan war alongside the Mujahideen against Soviet forces.

  • July 16: Security Forces (SFs) have arrested four over-ground workers (OGWs) of the LeT outfit from Patnazi in the Kishtwar District. They have been identified as Mohammad Hussain, Kalu Mohammad, Mohammad Abdullah and Abdul Gani Wani.

  • July 15: A top United Nations (UN) official has warned that the Pakistan-based LeT is most likely to attack India again to increase tension between India and Pakistan.  "Lashkar-e-Taiba tactics is quite obvious. It is trying to increase tensions between India and Pakistan at a time when they and their associates are particularly under pressure in western Pakistan," said Richard Barrett, Coordinator of the UN Security Council''s Al Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Committee, Indian Express reported. "They may do that again," Barrett said, adding that "this is the real risk".

  • July 14: The Intelligence Bureau, in an alert, warned that at least seven places in Maharashtra - including a reputed bank in Mumbai and an important railway junction in Navi Mumbai - could be attacked. The alert, dated July 8, also contains photographs of the seven targets. Officials said the alert was issued after a terror suspect was detained in Jammu and Kashmir and the Police recovered photographs of targets in Maharashtra from him. The colour pictures were reportedly sent to security agencies in Maharashtra by e-mail. “The photographs are genuine. They include the picture of a reputed bank near the Bombay high court, two railway stations in Mumbai and a railway station in Navi Mumbai,’’ an official said, adding that the Navi Mumbai station was not properly covered “security-wise’’. However, the alert did not specify the number of terrorists planning to enter Maharashtra and did not provide any information about possible local involvement. The fresh alert, officials said, also mentioned four dates on which the terrorists planned to carry out the strikes. This is the second alert in two weeks by central intelligence agencies. The first was issued on June 24—it said a 26/11-like terrorist attack could be repeated again via the sea route by the Pakistan-based LeT. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had warned that Pakistan-based terrorists could launch another sea-borne attack despite the bad weather and choppy seas. While the minister did not give details, sources in the central intelligence agencies described the threat as specific and the most serious in two years. A massive coastal patrol was launched following that alert.

  • July 12: A LeT ‘battalion commander’, identified as Zarkawi Bhai, a resident of Pakistan, was killed in an encounter with the Security Forces in the Handwara area of Kupwara District. Official sources in capital Srinagar said one AK rifle, four magazines, 60 rounds, one wireless set and a mobile phone were recovered from the encounter site. The sources said an identity card belonging to one Ghulam Mohiuddin Sheikh, a resident of Hanga in Handwara area, was also recovered from the incident site. Sheikh was killed by militants on May 15, 2009 by slitting his throat. 

    There was no evidence of local help for the terrorists involved in the November 26, 2008 terrorist attacks and a series of calls made by the LeT handlers prior to the attacks was only to keep the internet telephony account active, a senior Police official said. "A series of random calls had been made by the LeT handlers using the Callphonex account since they were required to maintain a certain amount of traffic in order to keep the account active," the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said. "We have verified every call that was made to India including the random ones and there was no evidence of local support found," Maria added. 

    Meanwhile, the Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, who is conducting a trial in the November 26, 2008 attack case, said the statements of all the persons who received calls had been recorded and nothing suspicious had been found about them. "The handlers called numbers randomly which is evident since the calls lasted only between 30 to 40 seconds," Nikam said.

  • July 10: The intelligence agencies sounded an alert of a possible terror strike by LeT militants in Jodhpur city of Rajasthan in the coming days. Intelligence sources said the militants were planning blasts in the city on either July 11, 14 or 28 or on August 21. According to sources, the Intelligence Bureau sounded the alert on the basis of inputs received from Jammu & Kashmir.

  • July 9: The Police arrested a hawala operator of the LeT outfit and recovered INR 290000 worth hawala money from his possession at Banihal in the Ramban District. He was identified as Roshan Din, a resident of Cherwari in Banihal. Superintendent of Police (Ramban), Mubassir Latifi, said Police intercepted a vehicle at Banihal, which was on way from Srinagar to Ramban, and arrested Roshan Din following specific information developed about him that he was carrying hawala money. Preliminary questioning of Roshan Din has reportedly revealed that he was given the money by an unidentified militant at Anantnag Bus Stand for delivering it to the LeT ‘district commander’ for Banihal, Abu Mussa. Mussa was presently operating from the forests of Banihal and was a front ranking ‘commander’ of the LeT outfit for the last couple of years. 

  • July 4: A LeT militant was killed in an encounter with the SFs in an encounter at village Arangi in the Thannamandi area of Rajouri District. Official sources said an encounter between the SFs and militants was going on at Mangota since the afternoon.

  • July 3: Attorney General Latif Khosa said that the Federal Government will challenge the release of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (the LeT front) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in the Supreme Court on July 4. He said there were “sufficient grounds” to challenge the Lahore High Court (LHC) verdict that set Hafiz Saeed free. On June 3, the LHC ordered the release of Hafiz Saeed, holding that there was no sufficient ground to detain or link him to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008.

  • July 1: Three top LeT militants, including Zafarullah Parray, a Territorial Army trooper who had deserted his post along with three weapons on March 8, 2009, were shot dead by the Army, Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in a joint operation at Kulhand in the Doda District. Zafarullah Parray was being searched by Army and Police since he had deserted his unit along with weapons and joined the LeT outfit. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Prabhat Singh, said the house of one Irshad Ahmed was surrounded by Security Forces in the early hours after developing specific information that three to four LeT militants, including Zafarullah, had taken shelter there. However, on observing the SFs movement, the militants deserted the house and fled towards Kulhand, about 18 kms from Doda. The militants were chased and in the consequent encounter, all three militants were killed. A Police constable, Rakesh Kumar, sustained injuries in the incident. Besides Zafarullah, the two others have been identified as Mushtaq Ahmed alias Abu Harare, a resident of Kirthwan, and Billal Ahmad, a resident of Gurmul. Recoveries made from the possession of slain militants include two UBGLs, one rifle and a large quantity of ammunition and explosives. Police also detained Irshad Ahmed and some of his family members for giving shelter to the Lashkar militants. 

    The United States imposed sanctions on an Al Qaeda backer and three leaders of the LeT, believed to be behind the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November 2008. The US Treasury said it was imposing an assets freeze on the four, identified as Fazeelattul Shaykh Abu Mohammed Ameen Al-Peshawari, Arif Qasmani, Mohammed Yahya Mujahid and Nasir Javaid. Ameen Al-Peshawari allegedly provided assistance, including funding and recruits, to Al Qaeda and the Taliban currently fighting to regain control of Afghanistan. Qasmani is said to be the chief coordinator for the LeT and Mujahid was the head of the group’s media department. Javaid had allegedly served Lashkar’s commander in Pakistan. The Treasury said its action came two days after Al-Peshawari, Qasmani and Mujahid were added to a UN blacklist of individuals.

  • June 30: The Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Police have stated that the banned Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD, the LeT front) is expanding its operations and recruitment in the region. A confidential report submitted to the Pakistan Government has revealed that the group had purchased 65 kanals of land in the Dulai area of Muzaffarabad, the PoK capital, to construct a mosque, a school and a dispensary, a private TV channel reported. The PoK Inspector General of Police Javed Iqbal told the channel his force was closely monitoring the group’s activities.

    Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, however, denied that banned Pakistani groups were expanding their activities. “No such report has come before the government claiming these organisations have revived their activities,” he told the BBC. However, he added, it was a different matter if it was submitted by an intelligence agency.

  • June 29: Thr Police in Pakistan occupied- Kashmir (PoK) has revealed that groups like the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) are shifting bases to PoK following clampdown on their activities in the wake of the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26, 2008. In a confidential report submitted to the Government of Pakistan, PoK Police has said these groups have acquired large pieces of land in and around PoK capital of Muzaffarabad and are pursuing a "jehadi" agenda under the garb of religious activities, BBC reported. "After the ban imposed on the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ([JuD], the front of Lashkar-e-Taiba) by the UNSC, Pakistan forces had taken control of their offices... The activities of the outfit had gone underground for some months, but have again become active," the BBC quoted the report as saying. The report said that the JuD has constructed a mosque, a school and a dispensary on the land acquired by them in Dulasi and further construction is on.

  • June 24: The Police arrested a top commander of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and two over-ground workers of the LeT in separate operations in Kashmir valley. The Police arrested two over-ground workers of the LeT from Dalgate area of Srinagar. The duo was identified as Mohammad Ashraf Lone and Khalid Khursheed Zargar, both residents of Braribrah in the Rafiabad area of Baramulla District.

  • June 22: Three militants of the LeT outfit, including two commanders, were killed by the Army in an encounter at village Khour under the jurisdiction of Gulabgarh Police Station in Reasi District. Official sources said troops of the Rashtriya Rifles later joined by Police and Special Operations Group launched a search operation at Khour after getting specific information about the movement of a group of five militants, including top commander Abu Hurera, in the area. Sources confirmed the killing of two militants - Abu Hurera and Qasim Gujjar - only while unconfirmed reports said that another militant, identified as Majid, was also killed in the encounter. The encounter was going on till last reports came in as at least two more militants are reported to be hiding in the surrounding forests. Abu Hurera was a ‘district commander’ while Qasim Gujjar was an ‘area commander’. All three slain militants were locals and were operating in the Mahore-Gool-Gulabgarh region for the past several years. Recoveries made so far from the encounter site include two rifles, three magazines, 43 rounds, one radio set and some incriminating documents.

  • June 8: The Army recovered two more consignments of explosive devices, including five kilograms of RDX and 12 hand grenades, during search operations in the Rajouri and Doda Districts. Official sources said troops of the Rashtriya Rifles neutralized a hideout of the LeT militants at Narla Bambal under the jurisdiction of Dharamshal Police station in Rajouri district and seized five kg RDX, 12 hand grenades, 761 AK rounds, 10 detonators, one radio set, two tape recorders, five IED sets, five AK magazines, one Chinese pistol with two magazines and one pouch. In another search operation, the SFs recovered one Rocket Propelled Grenade Launcher from a hideout of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) ‘commander’ Ghulam Hussain alias Kari in the Kharepokhun forests of Doda District. Kari was shot dead by the troops in an encounter on May 26.

  • June 5: Three hardcore militants of the LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfits were killed by the Security Forces (SFs) during an encounter at Mandrala under the jurisdiction of Gandoh Police Station on the Doda-Himachal Pradesh border. Senior Superintendent of Police Parbhat Singh said a joint team of Police and Army launched a search operation after securing specific information that three commanders of LeT and HM outfits were hiding in village Mandrala for the past few days. "It would have been difficult to trace the militants had they slipped into the territory of Himachal Pradesh", Singh said, adding that SFs surrounded the hideout before asking them to surrender. However, all three militants opened heavy firing on the troops and tried to break their cordon to escape. In the ensuing encounter, the troops killed the three militants who have been identified as Zafarullah, Shabir Ahmed and Nazir Ahmed. Official sources said Zafarullah and Nazir were section and area commanders respectively of the HM outfit while Shabir Ahmed was deputy district commander of the LeT. Recoveries made from the incident site include one sniper rifle with telescope, its two magazines and 19 rounds, one AK rifle with one magazine and 9 rounds, three grenades, detonators, wire, explosive devices, identity cards, letter heads of HM and LeT outfits besides some incriminating documents of the two outfits and personal belongings of the militants.

  • June 4: The recovery of 5000 Chinese made AK bullets from Sabjian forests in the Mandi sector of Poonch District a couple of days back has given a credible impetus to intelligence reports that weaponry supplied by China to Pakistan army is being diverted by the latter to militants operating in Jammu and Kashmir. Official sources said that a large box dug out by the troops of Rashtriya Rifles and Special Operations Group from an underground hideout of the militants in Sabjian forests carried the mark of Chinese make. Though the recovery of Chinese grenades from the militants or their hideouts has been a routine, this is for the first time that China made AK bullets have been recovered during an anti-militancy operation. Intelligence reports had already been suggesting that a number of weapons supplied by China to Pakistan army have been forwarded by the latter to training camps of different militant outfits, including the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

    A key LeT operative, identified as Mohammad Omar Madini, was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police near Qutb Minar in south Delhi. He was reportedly operating from India and Nepal for the past several years. The Police have recovered USD 8000, some Nepali currency and a diary containing a list of suspected LeT conduits and militants active in and outside India. 

  • Meanwhile, security and intelligence agencies suspect he was in direct touch with top operatives of the outfit in Pakistan, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed. Madini reportedly disclosed that he infiltrated into India recently on a ‘talent hunt’. Madini had allegedly been directed by his LeT leaders to create a large network of operatives in major cities through whom deadly attacks could be carried out in the future. His job was to spot talent, cultivate them, initiate them to join the outfit and fight for its cause.

    Mohammad Omar Madani reportedly ran a logistical hub that funnelled dozens of militants through Nepal to targets across in India, Delhi Police sources. Working with fugitives like LeT commander Mohammad Saifullah, the Bihar-born Nepal national Madani provided LeT operatives with passports, cash and communications facilities that allowed them to travel from Pakistan to India through Kathmandu and then secure their escape. Fahim Arshad Ansari, who is now being tried on charges of having generated the videotape that facilitated the training of the perpetrators of November 26, 2008 attacks in Mumbai, is among those alleged to have benefited from the logistical infrastructure Madani helped set up. Sabahuddin Ahmed, Ansari’s immediate superior and the first Indian national to have commanded a LeT’s field unit, also used the Lashkar’s transit hub.

    Police sounded a high alert in Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh, following a tip-off from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) that three LeT terrorists had infiltrated into the country to carry out a major terrorist attack in a South Indian city. The specific advisory from the IB mentioned that three Pakistani nationals had crossed the border in Jammu and Kashmir on June 1 and had started their journey from Srinagar in a Tata Sumo vehicle. The weapons to be used by them would be delivered to them in Hyderabad, the city Police were told. The three terrorists were identified as Sharif Ahmed Bhatti alias Abu Masab (23), Nazeer Ahmed alias Abu Jahangir (31) and Mohammed Ahmed alias Abu Jharkavi (21). They were likely to arrive in the city by the Deccan Express train. Following the specific alert, the Hyderabad Police is reported to have ordered checking of vehicles and frisking road users on a massive scale. Security was also beefed up at all vital installations, malls, religious places and places where people are likely to gather.

  • June 3: According to intelligence sources, Pakistan’s LeT is planning its next, more spectacular attack in India. Even before the LeT chief Hafiz Mohamed Saeed was released in Lahore, the LeT masterminds have reportedly been planning the next attack. According to intelligence officials, in terms of preparedness, LeT leaders in Pakistani prisons - Zarar Shah and Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi - have had full access to communications facilitating the planning process. In preparation for more terrorist attacks, security agencies have found new terror modules sprouting up in Nepal and Bangladesh as well as in India.

    Pakistani authorities said that they would appeal against a court order to release the JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. "The government has decided to file an appeal against the release order of Hafiz Saeed," Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told after the Lahore High Court ordered Saeed’s release. "We have received the detailed verdict of the court. Our legal advisers are studying it, and we told them to file an appeal against this verdict," he said.

  • June 2: India strongly objected to Pakistan’s attempt to link the Kashmir issue to terrorism in the region and maintained that bilateral dialogue would resume only when Islamabad creates conditions for it. "It (terrorism) has nothing to do with Kashmir. Terror whether it is in Kashmir, in Mumbai or elsewhere, it is abominable," External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna told reporters in New Delhi. He was responding to Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s remarks that Kashmir issue "holds the key to durable peace in the region" and said that it must be resolved through "sincere dialogue". Krishna pointed out that Kashmir is a part of the composite dialogue that India had initiated with Pakistan. "Now it is in Pakistan’s court to create conditions for the dialogue to be resumed," he stated. The composite dialogue, which began in January 2004, was suspended by India after the 26/11 attacks carried out by the LeT terrorists based in Pakistan.

    Meanwhile, responding to the release of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD, the LeT front) chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, Krishna said it demonstrates Pakistan’s lack of seriousness to fight terror and raises serious doubts about its commitment to probe the Mumbai attack. "It is regrettable that Pakistan has released Hafiz Saeed who has been part of terror outfits in Pakistan. The organisation (JuD) with which he has connections has been declared terrorist organisation by the United Nations Security Council," he said while reacting to the development in Lahore. "This only shows that Pakistan’s seriousness to fight against terror is still under a cloud," he said.

    Expressing "disappointment" over the release of Saeed, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said: "It is regrettable that notwithstanding this background and the international obligations it entails on Pakistan, he has been released." He said Saeed’s release "raises serious doubts over Pakistan’s sincerity in acting with determination against terrorist groups and individuals operating from its territory". Prakash noted that Saeed is the head of JuD and LeT, which are listed by the UN under UNSC Resolution 1267 as being affiliates of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. "Hafiz Saeed is specifically listed as linked to these terrorist groups," he said, adding "the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa have a long and well established background of planning and launching terrorist acts against India. His professed ideology and public statements leave no doubt as to his terrorist inclinations".

    Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said: "It is a commentary on the commitment of Pakistan to investigate the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack." Commenting on Saeed’s release, he said "We are unhappy that Pakistan does not show the degree of seriousness and commitment that it should to bring to justice perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack." He, however, underlined that the development will not cause any setback to India’s investigations into 26/11.

    Saeed was put under house arrest on December 11, 2008 after the UN Security Council banned the JuD, declaring it a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed by India for the November 26 Mumbai attacks.

    A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) accepted a habeas corpus petition and ordered the Government to release Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD, the LeT front) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Col (retd) Nazir Ahmad, Daily Times reported. The court observed that “After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and perusal of the case law on the subject as well as the material produced by the learned law officers in chamber, for the reasons to be delivered later on, with a unanimous view, we have held that this writ petition in the form of habeas corpus is maintainable as prima facie the government has no sufficient grounds to detain the petitioners for preventive measures.” “As far as the UN resolution is concerned, there is no matter before us about the vires and the government can act upon the same in letter and spirit if so advised. But relying on the same, the detention cannot be maintained, as it was even not desired thereby,” it read. 

    During the proceedings, petitioners’ counsel A. K. Dogar had claimed the Government’s plea to detain his clients in the public interest was wrong. Members of the JuD are good Muslims who follow the example of the holy Prophet, he said, claiming it was part of a Western conspiracy to defame Islam. He said the Government had made United Nations Security Council Resolution No 1267 its basis for detaining the petitioners, even though the resolution dealt with an arms embargo, freezing the guilty party’s assets, and banning them from traveling abroad, not detention. Defending the Government, Deputy Attorney General Naveed Inayat Malik said Dogar’s arguments collapsed under Article 10(3) of the Constitution, which contended it was not necessary to show grounds for detention in the case of preventative detention.

  • In December 2008, the Interior Ministry had ordered the detention of six JuD leaders, including its chief Hafiz Saeed, on the suspicion of his group’s involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26, 2008. A review board of the Lahore High Court on May 5 extended for further 60 days the detention of Hafiz Saeed and Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed while releasing its two leaders Mufti Abdur Rehman and Amir Hamza.

    Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said India’s views on the release of Hafiz Saeed were misplaced, The News reported. Responding to a statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on the release of Saeed, the spokesman said: “The views expressed therein are misplaced. It is best not to comment on a court decision.” He said the Government of Pakistan was well aware of its obligations under the national and international laws. The spokesman said Pakistan had demonstrated sincerity and commitment vis-à-vis inquiry and ongoing investigations concerning the Mumbai attacks. “Polemics and unfounded insinuations cannot advance the cause of justice in civilised societies. Legal processes cannot and must not be interfered with,” he added.

  • May 19: The Bangalore Police filed a chargesheet against 26 persons, including four foreign nationals, for their involvement in the July 25, 2008 serial bomb blasts case. Among the Indian nationals whose names figure in the chargesheet are Abdul Sattar, his son Sarfuddin, Abdul Jabbar, Mujeeb Mohiddin, Faizal Abdul Rehman, Abdul Jaleel Moosa, Manaf Mohammad alias Rahees, Badruddin Noor Ahamed, Sakariya and Sarfarz Nawaz. The chargesheet also mentions the names of Abdul Sattar’s son-in-law Abdul Raheem, Mohammed Fiaz Hamsa, Fayis Abdul Rahman and Mohammed Yasin, who were killed in an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir in October 2008. The four foreign nationals include a Pakistani national and an Omani national. “We have established their involvement in the conspiracy. We are not revealing their names as they are yet to be apprehended,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar.

    The accused have been charged with waging war against the country under Section 121A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and causing grievous injury and conspiracy under Section 120B of IPC. They have been charged with using explosive devices and causing damage to public property under the Explosive Act 1884. The Police have charged the accused with being members of an unlawful association, indulging in terrorist activities and arranging finance for terrorist acts under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. “The punishment for these offences is life imprisonment or death and is heard by Sessions Court. As the charges are under the Unlawful Activities Act, we get 180 days to file the charge sheet instead of the 90 days in other offences,” a city Police officer said. 

    The accused were reportedly cadres of the so-called Shahbuddin Gowri Brigade of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) outfit. The accused had made use of ammonium nitrate, nuts, bolts, printed circuit boards brought from Kannur in Kerala. Sarfarz Nawaz identified the places where bombs had to be placed and also organised finance for the attack from Wali alias Rehan, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative from Pakistan, the chargesheet said. The Bangalore Police registered nine cases and handed over the investigation to its Central Crime Branch.

  • May 15: Authorities have ordered a fresh crackdown on a charity linked to the JuD following reports that dozens of its volunteers were at the centre of relief operations for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in NWFP. The move to act against the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation came after The Independent newspaper reported that JuD volunteers were providing first aid and emergency assistance to the IDPs. A senior official, however, said on May 14 that the Government was aware of reports of the charity's re-emergence and was ready to act. "The Interior Ministry has directed that no banned organisation will be allowed to resume activities under the garb of humanitarian work," he said.

  • May 13: The Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD, the front for Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT]), designated by the United Nations Security Council as a terrorist outfit in the wake of the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, has resurfaced as a charity organisation providing food and other relief to the thousands of people fleeing the fighting in Swat District. Eyewitnesses said that the JuD is active in Mardan where most of the refugee camps are located. They are distributing food and medical care. One eyewitness who visited the area on May 9 said JuD workers were organised under a charity organisation called Falah-i-Insaniyat. They had set themselves up at a roundabout in Mardan town called College Chowk, where they were collecting food donations for the displaced. Despite the Government crackdown on the group after the U.N. designation, the canopied stall was openly flying the black-and-white flags of the JuD, with the insignia of the sword and the Kalma, the Islamic doctrine of faith. The organisation has also set up a relief distribution centre at a village called Rustam, on the outskirts of Buner.

    The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Kerala Police questioned the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Abdul Nazer Madhani for several hours, in connection with his terrorism linkages, reports Indian Express. Madhani is suspected to have links with the LeT militants. According to unnamed sources, the Police questioned Madhani based on the confessions of Sarfras Nawas and Sainudheen, who were arrested in connection with the July 26, 2008 Bangalore serial bomb blasts case. Nawas had told the Karnataka Police that he had met Madhani in his residence at Kollam a few months after the PDP leader was released from Coimbatore jail, where he had been housed as an under trial in the Coimbatore bomb blast case. Nawas, suspected to be the financier of the terrorist recruitment module in Kerala, was accompanied by Abdul Raheem, who had been killed in Jammu and Kashmir in October 2008.  In addition, Madhani had also faced charges for harbouring the daughter of Sainudheen alias Sathar Bhai, a close aid of Riyas Bhatkal, the founder of terrorist outfit Indian Mujahideen (IM).

  • May 12: A charge-sheet submitted by Police in an anti-terrorism court says that LeT assassinated former Commander of the Special Services Group, General Aamir Faisal Alvi, to avenge the role he played in the fight against militants in FATA. According to the charge-sheet prepared by Islamabad’s Koral Police against Major (retd) Haroon Ashiq, a resident of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Mohammad Nawaz Khan of Peshawar, and Ashfaq Ahmed of Okara in Punjab, the murder was ordered by Ilyas Kashmiri who provided funds and weapons. 

    During interrogation in a kidnapping for ransom case, the accused told Police they had been ordered to kill Alvi, who had spearheaded a commando operation against militants at Angor Adda in South Waziristan in 2004 when a large number of Arabs, Uzbeks, Chechens, Afghans and local Taliban militants were killed. The three were arrested by the industrial area police for trying to kidnap a businessman. Police said the alleged killers, who belonged to the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, followed Alvi when he left his residence in Bharia Town on the day of the attack for his private office in Islamabad and killed him and his driver near PWD Colony. Police said the accused were given money and weapons for the attack by Ilyas Kashmiri and Irfan, another man working for the militants.

  • May 9: The Army and Police shot dead a top commander of the LeT outfit and his accomplice in a joint operation in the Dhar forest area of Doda District. The slain militants were identified as LeT ‘district commander’ Abu Samama and his bodyguard Barkat Ali. “While Samama was a Pakistani national, Ali was a local militant," said Brig Gurdeep Singh of 16 Corps of Army. He added that Samama had been active in this area for the last four to five years and his killing was a big blow to the LeT. One Army soldier was injured in the gun battle. SF recovered arms and ammunition from the incident site.

  • May 7: Security Forces (SFs) killed two top Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) commanders while their third associate managed to escape during an encounter at Ghai in the Doda District. The operation was on to neutralize the fleeing militant, who has been injured in the encounter. The slain militants have been identified as Farooq Padar and Sadiq Rather with intercepts revealing that both were commander level militants of the HM outfit and were operating in the upper reaches of Doda District for the last several years. They were reportedly involved in a series of subversive activities across the Doda and Kishtwar Districts. The absconding militant has been identified as Ghulam Hassan. From the possession of the slain militants, SFs recovered two rifles, three magazines, seven rounds, one mobile telephone, two SIM cards, two pouches and some incriminating documents. Few personal belongings of the militants were also found in the hideout which was destroyed in the operation.

    Deputy Inspector General of Police Hemant Kumar Lohia said the offensive launched against militants in Doda has been paying off with several successful operations being uted against the militants. In less than 40 days, 11 militants of the LeT and HM, mostly commanders, have been killed in different encounters in Doda. In addition, a number of over ground workers of the militants, including Khursheed Doctor, who used to treat the injured militants at Laloor, have been arrested by Police.

    The Police arrested a LeT militant, identified as Manzoor Ahmed, from village Dhodi in the Rajouri District for the killing of a Special Police Officer (SPO) Khadim Hussain Shah of Budhal Police station, whose body was recovered on May 7. Shah’s throat had been slit by the militants. According to Police, LeT commanders Obaida and Jan Nissar had asked Manzoor Ahmed to kill the SPO as he was instrumental in three successful operations against the LeT militants.

  • May 5: Security Forces recovered arms and explosives during a search operation in the Nar forest area of Poonch District and neutralized a hideout of the militants. The recoveries included one AK-47 rifle, 412 rounds, one pistol with seven rounds, one radio set, three grenades, five pouches and some incriminating documents pertaining to the LeT.

    A review board of the Lahore High Court has extended for 60 days the detention of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (the Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT] front) chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed, while releasing two outfit leaders Mufti Abdur Rehman and Ameer Hamza. The board comprising Justice Mian Muhammad Najam-uz-Zaman, Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi and Justice Fazal-e-Miran Chohan turned down the home department’ request to extend the detention of Mufti and Hamza after feeling dissatisfied with the material produced against them. They would be released on May 6 (today) after the expiry of their detention period. In the case of Hafiz Saeed and Nazir Ahmed, the board extended their detention citing security concerns.

    Hafiz Saeed is reported to have stated that his five months long detention was illegal and if there was any incriminating material against him the Government must produce it before the board. He was of the view that the UN neither ordered nor recommended for his detention. Ameer Hamza said he was never involved in any anti-state or provocative activities while Col (retd) Nazir opined that elements who broke the country were roaming around freely while its saviors have been put behind the bars. In December 2008, the Interior Ministry had ordered detention of eight LeT, including Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, on the suspicion of the outfit’s involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008.

    The Federal Investigation Agency in Rawalpindi submitted a charge-sheet against five men accused of being involved in the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The court will frame chares against the accused on May 12. Anti-Terrorism Court-II Judge Sakhi Mohammad Kahot, who has been conducting the trial of the accused Shahid Jameel Riaz a resident of Bahawalpur, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi of Islamabad, Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah of Sheikhupura, Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al-Qama, a resident of Islamabad, and Hammad Amin Saddiq of Karachi in Adial Jail, distributed the copies of the charge-sheet among the accused who would formally be indicted on the next date of hearing.

  • May 4: The Military intelligence revealed that  a group of 935 Pakistani women being trained by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan''s external intelligence, in the Faridkot District of Pakistan to entice men and motivate them into becoming terrorists in India. According to a secret military intelligence report sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the group is also being trained at a camp in Kotli, Pakistan. It says a joint meeting of senior ISI officers with representatives of al-Qaeda, LeT, Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) and Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) on April 23 near Talwandi (in Pakistan) was attended by Neeta, KZF leader, and Nazira Begum, the wife of Kotli training camp principal Shah Mohammad.

    Meanwhile, Neeta, a resident of Ward 2 in Jammu town''s Sumbal Camp area, is the only Khalistani terrorist active from among the five demanded by India from Pakistan. According to the report, Neeta discussed the logistics of providing support to groups in Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur in Punjab to revive terrorism and has already appointed a female commander in Gurdaspur sector. However, the ISI officials take over training programmes only in the later stages, after the initial phase of physical tutelage is over. Taught to breach national boundaries, these women generally enter India through West Bengal and Bihar borders and are equally adept at using computers and in blackmailing youth. Their modus operandi to gain a foothold in the society is simple -establish relationships, legally or illegally.

  • May 3: A suspected LeT militant, identified as Mohammed Nissar, who was arrested by the Police on May 2 from Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh, was remanded to judicial custody till May 18. According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), R.S. Praveen Kumar, Nissar alias Osman Bhai had been staying in the Manna Ekhelli village of Bidar District in the Karnataka State. “In August 2001, he along with Abdul Aziz alias Gidda was arrested for indulging in subversive activities and released on bail after three months. Later, he stopped attending the court and went missing,’’ the DCP added. It is learnt that the Police had then recovered two pistols, one forged passport, Compact Discs containing jihadi material and an electronic detonator from him.

    Meanwhile, Police sources said Nissar has once fled to Bangladesh. “We are yet to find out why he went to Bangladesh and from there to Pakistan. At Bidar, Nissar was engaged in cloth business,’’ an unnamed Police source said. Nissar reportedly fought against the US forces in Iraq and also participated in the fighting in Chechnya. A former constable in the Armed Reserve unit of the Hyderabad City Police, Nissar is the son of Abu Baker, a retired reserve sub-inspector. Police officers who interrogated Nissar during the last few days described him as a hardcore militant.

  • May 2: Mohammed Nissar, an alleged LeT militant from Hyderabad who disappeared in 2003 while facing trial in a terrorism case, was arrested by the Police in Hyderabad.

  • April 30: Two top commanders of the LeT were killed while an Army trooper was injured and three Police officials of Bhaderwah had a narrow escape in an encounter at Chinote in the Bhaderwah area of Doda District. The slain LeT ‘commanders’, identified as Ashraf alias Jehadi and Mudassar alias Bhaya alias Abu Furqan 99, had escaped Police cordon in Domel forests of Bhaderwah three days back and since then were being searched by the Security Forces (SFs). One AK-47 rifle, two magazines, 30 rounds, three grenades, two pouches, RDX and a large quantity of documents and other belongings of the militants were recovered from the encounter site. With this incident, a total of eight militants, mostly LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) commanders, have been killed in Doda District this month. Ashraf and Mudassar were ‘A’ category militants and were active in militancy since June and September 2004 respectively.

  • April 27: A deputy divisional commander of the LeT, identified as Abu Babbar, hailing from Peshawar in Pakistan, was shot dead by troops of 37 Rashtriya Rifles, Police and Special Operation group in a joint encounter at Shruti Top near Dorimal forests in Mendhar tehsil (Revenue Division) of Poonch District. One sophisticated bullet action automatic rifle, a modified version of AK along with its one magazine and rounds were recovered from the site of encounter.

  • April 26: Banned terrorist groups in Pakistan’s Punjab province are gaining strength after joining hands on a new platform called the Muslim United Army (MUA. The LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) have a common cause under the banner of MUA and their activities are also in line with those of the Taliban, according to a report drawn up by the Crime Investigation Department (CID). The report also said militancy has been rapidly taking roots in Punjab province, especially in the five districts of Muzaffarghar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bhakkar. "As several members of the three banned groups have taken part in the Afghan war, they have developed a nexus with the Taliban," a senior CID officer said. "In the suicide bombings of the Naval War College and Federal Investigation Agency office in Lahore and the terrorist attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team and police training school in Manawan, the facilitators of the perpetrators were from these organisations operating in Punjab," the officer said. Police officials also believe the three groups had joined hands primarily to target the security forces.

    Though the main actors of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi - Malik Ishaq and Akram Lahori - are in jails in Multan and Karachi respectively, they are operating their group from behind bars in connivance with the prison staff, sources said. Though both are being tried in a number of cases, they are yet to be convicted in a single case due to lack of evidence. Police claim people are afraid of giving testimony against them. The CID official said the LeJ is currently at the forefront in carrying out attacks in Punjab along with the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. He also said the MUA has developed a core group in five Districts as the three proscribed groups had their seminaries there. "The function of the core groups is to ensure maximum recruitment from seminaries, give the recruits training and equip them with weapons. The extremists then start intimidating security forces, terrorising people, occupying roads and targeting wealthy people, whom they consider exploiters of the poor people," the officer explained.

  • April 24:  Two top LeT militants were trapped in a gun-battle with the SFs at Domel forests in the Bhaderwah area of Doda District. The Senior Superintendent of Police (Doda), Parbhat Singh, said two LeT militants, Mohammed Ashraf alias Jehad and Mudassar alias Furqan, were trapped in a hideout at Domel.

    The LeT is planning to create further unrest, the commander of US forces in the Middle East said. “We should observe that the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba ... are trying to do more damage and they’re trying to carry out additional attacks,” General David Petraeus told US lawmakers. Petraeus said the US expected that “extremists that are trying to cause that kind of tension and also to take (Pakistan’s) focus off of the internal extremist threat would indeed strive to do that.”

  • April 23: Around 1,000 highly-trained militants of the LeT, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and Al-Badr Mujahideen have been instructed to cross the Indian border from Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country in the month of June 2009, Asian Age reported. The zonal commanders of these terrorist groups have been specifically ordered that in each batch of terrorists, which will be sent to India, at least one should be a suicide bomber. Normally, a batch comprises of 20 terrorists. 

    A senior official of a central intelligence agency said, "The latest inputs confirm that zonal commanders of these terror organisations have been asked to prepare a list of around 1,000 highly-trained militants, who will be sent to India in the month of June. These terrorists will be sent in batches. The zonal commanders have also been asked to make all necessary arrangements for their departure." According to intelligence inputs, around 70 highly-trained militants have already entered India. Out of total 70, 22 militants have been recently killed during encounter with the Army in Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, said the unnamed official.

    "Available inputs confirm that 1,000 terrorists will be sent from 26 different terror camps located in several areas of Pakistan. Hizbul has seven terror camps in Pok. One the Jungle Mangal camp (Muzaffarabad) where 215 highly-trained militants are preparing to enter India. The second, the Garhi Haibullah camp, where 75 militants have been prepared to ute terror strikes in India. Besides, reports confirm that 30 militants of the Hizbul from the Boi Camp will be sent to India by the end of June," said the official. The official further said, "Lashkar has at least 30 terror camps located in Muzaffarabad and Kotli. There are confirmed reports that at least 550 Lashkar militants are being prepared by their handlers for carrying out terror activities in India. They will also be sent to India by June end. Besides, other LeT militants will be sent from its camp located in Rawalakot."

  • April 21: Five persons, including a woman and a female child, were killed and seven others were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion under a vehicle at Sangla on the Surankote-Marha road in Poonch District. The Deputy Inspector General of Police (Rajouri-Poonch range), S. D. Singh, said a TATA Mobile vehicle carrying 12 civilians and loaded with cement bags was on way from Surankote to Marha when it came under the impact of a powerful IED, planted on road by the militants. There had been inputs about the movement of militants in Surankote area, sources said, adding the vehicle might have been targeted as it belonged to a Village Defence Committee member. The LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi while claiming responsibility for the blast said seven people were killed and 10 injured in the blast triggered by their cadre. Official sources, however, said there was no truth in Ghaznavi’s claim as only five civilians were killed and seven others were injured.

  • April 20: Intelligence agencies have recently ascertained that a joint meeting between militants of the LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) chief Wadhawa Singh was held in Rawalpindi in Pakistan during February 2009, where they planned terrorist attacks in Punjab during the Parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in the fourth and fifth phases on May 7 and May 13. Sources in the agencies said the Pakistan-based terrorist outfits had planned to take help of local BKI cadres for logistical support. A similar meeting had also taken place in December 2008 when Pakistan-based terrorist outfits had planned to infiltrate their cadres through the fenced western border in Punjab and Rajasthan, sources added. Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has alerted the State to take adequate measures in coordination with central intelligence and security agencies to foil any such attempts. Agencies believed that Wadhawa Singh continues to be a vital link between terrorists in other countries and some radical elements in the Sikh community in Punjab. Wadhawa Singh, hiding in Pakistan, is one of the 40 most-wanted terrorists India has sought to be deported from Pakistan.

    The prosecution proposed 312 charges against the accused in the November 26, 2008, Mumbai attack case. The charges are against LeT militant Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, Fahim Ansari, Mohammad Sabahuddin Ahmed and 35 wanted accused. Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam filed the draft charges before the special sessions court at the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai. This step comes before framing of the charges. The charges of criminal conspiracy are applicable to all the accused.

    The charges include: committing terrorist acts with an intent to overawe the government, striking terror, waging war, organising and imparting training in Pakistan with the object of attacking major cities of India, destabilising the Indian government by engineering violence and through subversive activities, weakening India’s economic might, killing foreign nationals, adversely affecting Hindu-Muslim harmony, attacking territorial integrity by planning to capture Kashmir, smuggling firearms and explosives, exchanging maps of locations, aiding, abetting and facilitating terrorist acts, assisting criminal conspiracy and committing acts to further the objectives of criminal conspiracy. Sections of the Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Explosive Substances Act, Explosives Act, Passport Act (Entry into India), Foreigners Act, Indian Railways Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, Bombay Police Act and Customs Act apply to the charges.

    Nikam also presented evidence against Ansari and Sabahuddin. He said the writing on the map found on the person of deceased accused, Abu Ismail, and that of Ansari was found matching by experts. The map showed the position of the Chowpatty and Malabar Hill. It also had a mention of the Raj Bhavan. Nikam said Ansari attempted to hire a room at Badhwar Park in Cuffe Parade where the terrorists docked. He found accommodation at Patthe Bapurao Marg up to 5 km from Badhwar Park and from there, Fahim allegedly made detailed maps of the locations. He also bought a mobile phone in the fictitious name of Sahil Pawaskar. He also got himself admitted to the SoftPro computer institute opposite the Bombay Stock exchange, Nikam said.

    In his confession, Ajmal has stated that the LeT ‘commander’ Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi asked the terrorists to destroy the maps on reaching target locations. The statement mentions the names of Ansari and Sabahuddin.

  • April 19: Interior Adviser Rehman Malik has said six suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the Mumbai terrorist attacks.  Rehman said Pakistan had asked New Delhi to provide it the chargesheet against the lone arrested LeT militant Ajmal Kasab and his confession before the court.

    With LeT’s  top leaders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Yousuf Muzammil, Ahmad Bhai and Zarar Shah in custody of Pakistan police in the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, the LeT is learnt to have replaced them with new commanders to step up their terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and other parts of India.

    According to Intelligence sources, the new commanders appointed by the LeT to co-ordinate operations in J&K and other Indian States, include Shahji of Bahawalpur in the Punjab province of Pakistan, who had earlier operated as ‘divisional commander’ of the outfit for north Kashmir for almost a decade before he was called back to Pakistan, Hyder Bhai, known for several fidayeen attacks, Huzefa and Walid. All of them are Pakistani nationals and have reportedly operated in the Kashmir valley over the last decade before crossing back to Pakistan. According to sources, the initial focus of four new commanders was the Kashmir valley and Doda-Rajouri-Poonch belt in Jammu besides metropolitan and other major cities of India.

    Another female militant along with a ‘commander’ of the LeT outfit was killed in a joint operation of the Police and Army in the Doda District . An Army trooper and a Special Police Officer (SPO) also died in the gun-battle. Official sources said Doda Police received information about the presence of militants in the forest areas of Kashtigarh. While the Security Forces (SFs) were carrying out search and cordon operation, they were fired upon by the militants hiding in the house of Samad Hajam. In the militants’ indiscriminate firing, trooper Suraj Parkash and SPO Karan Singh were killed. In the retaliatory action by the SFs, a 24-year old female militant and a HM ‘commander’ were shot dead. Another militant, identified as Shaheen Parvez, managed to escape from the incident site, from where the troops recovered one AK rifle, four magazines and some ammunition.

    The LeT commander Mukhtyar Ahmed, a resident of Kashtigarh in Doda, had called the female militant, Dilshad, a resident of Kurdar Manwas, at the house of Samad Hajan to assign her some task, the sources said, adding the search operation in the area will be resumed tomorrow (April 20) to track down the absconding militant. Dilshad is the second female militant to have been killed during the past 24 hours in Doda District.

  • April 18: A LeT militant, identified as Nissar Ahmed, was killed along with his girl friend and an accomplice at Dori Bhagla in Doda District. Doda Deputy Inspector General of Police H. K. Lohia said that Nissar had slipped through the Police net more than once in the past and that his girlfriend Zahida Bano (20) proved crucial in tracking him down. "Nissar, one of the most wanted terrorists in the district, was proving very elusive for us till we stumbled upon his affair with Zahida," he said. He said as soon as Police came to know about the affair, sleuths were hot on her trail. Zahida was kept under watch for 10 days. "We closed in on Nissar when we discovered Zahida was to meet him," Lohia said. A team of Security Force personnel followed Zahida to Nissar''s hideout. "Nissar and Mohammed Rafiq Nazni, another terrorist accompanying him, were asked to surrender. When they didn''t, security forces fired at them," Lohia said. He said Nissar and Nazni were killed while Zahida was critically injured. "Zahida, who had been working for the LeT as an Over Ground Worker (OGW), later died in a local hospital." Lohia also said that a LeT OGW arrested last week had tipped the Police about Zahida''s terror link. Superintendent of Police Parbhat Singh said the two militants had been active in the forest area around Doda for a long time. "Their elimination is a major success for counter-insurgency operations in the area," he said, adding, two AK-47 rifles were recovered from the encounter site. 

    The Deputy Inspector General of Police (Doda Range), Hemant K. Lohia, had stated that at least six to seven young girls and middle aged women were on the Police radar for actively working for the LeT and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) outfits.

  • April 15: An accused in the Mumbai terrorist attack of November 26, 2008 recorded his statement before the Special Judicial Magistrate Ahmed Masood Janjua and confessed that he was involved in the attack. The court sent the accused to the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on 14-day judicial remand and directed the Special Investigation Cell to produce him again on April 28. The accused, Shahid Jamil Riaz alias Muhammad Riaz from Nazir Colony in Bahawalpur in the Punjab province, recorded his statement under section 164 and confessed that he and other four accused, Hamad Ameen Sadiq, Zarar Shah, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Hamza alias Abu Alqa, were involved in the Mumbai attacks. 

    However, the court refused to provide information about his confessional statement to the media. The Federal Investigation Agency sources told The News that Shahid Jamil Riaz belongs to the LeT and has confessed that he, along with other four accused, provided all kinds of transportation facilities, accommodation, internet and other facilities to those who carried out Mumbai attacks. However, a junior officer of the Interior Ministry rejected any confession by the accused. He said the accused had given a statement in the court but it could not be called a confession.

  • April 10: The Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has stated that four Pakistan-based terrorist outfits are “working in consort” and there was mention of the Taliban in intercepts of their conversations. While saying the threat level in the country was “pretty high”, he disclosed that the LeT, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JuM) and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) were earlier operating separately but had come together. “We simply have to keep our powder dry. Make sure that we remain on high alert because four organisations are working in consort. That means the level of threat is pretty high,” he told NDTV. “I don’t think anyone has captured anyone to identify him as a Taliban. All that we know is that there is a serious attempt to infiltrate into India,” Chidambaram said. He was responding to a question on reports that about 30 Taliban terrorists had entered Kashmir.

  • April 9: An Indian Mujahideen (IM) militant, identified as Mohammad Saddik Shaikh, has revealed that Pakistan had rewarded the financier of the outfit to carry out terrorist activity in India. The revelation was made in the confessional statement opened by the Special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crimes Act (MCOCA) court. “Amir Raza, financier of IM, was paid handsomely by high ranking officials from the Pakistan Army to conduct terrorist operations in India,” Saddik said in the statement. According to the statement, Saddik had gone to Pakistan in 2003 where he met Colonel Atif, who had given him two envelopes to be delivered to Raza. Raza used to transfer money through the Western Union Money Transfer firm and hawala (informal money transfer system) for conducting weapon and explosives training in Pakistan and for other IM requirements. Saddik reportedly first visited Pakistan after the 1992-93 Mumbai riots and underwent training. “From Karachi airport I was taken to LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] office where I met their chief Azam Cheema. I was then sent to Muzzafarabad where I underwent training for over 25 days in weapon handling and how to assemble explosives,” Saddik said. “After a group of boys came back from training, Raza asked me to show my work. With the help of Riyaz Bhatkal, founder of IM and other members, I conducted blasts in Delhi, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and in several other places,” Saddik has confessed. From February 2005 to September 2008, the IM conducted blasts in several cities like Gorakhpur, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Surat, Saddik has said in his confession.

    Meanwhile, the confessional statement also revealed that IM militants used the information and photographs posted on matrimonial websites to get themselves fake student Identity cards, which could be used to procure fake driving licenses, adds Times of India. An IM cadre and a computer professional Anik Sayyed, in his confessional statement recorded by the magistrate in October 2008, has said that he downloaded photos from websites like Shaadi.com and Bharti.com and used them on forged documents. "I used to type matrimony in Google and open sites like Shaadi.com and Bharti.com and download photos of men registered on those sites. I used to then edit those photographs in Coreldraw and Adobe Photoshop and paste them on other documents," Anik has said. Anik also said that he also used information from the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited telephone directory to forge details for procuring SIM cards.

  • April 7: Two militants were killed in the ongoing encounter with Security Forces in the Lolab area of Kupwara District while search operations entered into the fifth day today in the neighbouring area of Trehgam. "Two unidentified militants have been killed in the encounter going on at Maidanpora in Lolab area. The identity and group affiliation of the militants is being ascertained," Defence spokesman Lt Colonel J. S. Brar said. However, sources said the slain militants were affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and one of them has been identified as ‘district commander’ Zaraar Musa. The Defence spokesman also said there has been no fresh firefight in the Zoona Reshi area under Trehgam police station in Kupwara District but the search operations were still going on. "The search cum sanitization operations are continuing in the area but there has been no fresh firefight for the last 24 hours," he added. Two militants and a soldier were killed in the operation in the first three days. 

    SFs recovered a six-kilogram improvised explosive device (IED) from a mini-bus in Baramulla district. "Troops of 46 Rashtriya Rifles during checking recovered five to six kgs of IED from one Matador 407 which was on way from Sopore to Baramulla, near Saint Joseph School Baramulla," a Police spokesman said.

    SFs recovered arms and explosives during two separate search operations conducted across the Rajouri and Udhampur Districts. Troops of the Rashtriya Rifles recovered one pistol, 11 detonators, two IEDs, 50 Pika rounds, nine rounds of 9 mm gun, 20 AK rounds and 90 meters at Hill Tak in Rajouri while one .303 rifle with 10 rounds and one magazine was recovered from Soni forest area in Udhampur.

  • April 6: Two Army soldiers were killed in a gunfight with militants in the Lolab area of Kupwara District. An encounter broke out between Security Forces (SFs) and militants in the Maidanpora forests in Lolab in the evening of April 5. Four soldiers were injured in the initial gunfight, the officials said. They said two Army soldiers injured in the encounter were evacuated to 92 Base Hospital at Badamibagh cantonment here where they were declared brought dead. Unconfirmed reports said a self-styled commander of the LeT, Zaraar Musa, a resident of Pakistan, has been killed in the encounter, which was going on till reports last came in. 

    Meanwhile, the gun battle between the SFs and holed up militants in the Zoona Reshi area of Kupwara District entered the fourth day. Although there were no reports of any fresh casualties on either side, the operation against the militants was going on despite heavy rainfall in the area, a Defence spokesman said. Two militants and a soldier have been killed in the three days of fighting in the area close to the Line of Control.

  • April 5: A LeT militant, identified as Shahanawaz alias Chandan, was arrested by the Special Task Force from Lalgola in the Murshidabad District. Shahanawaz, an explosives expert, reportedly hails from Raghunathganj in Mushidabad. Police records show that he was also involved in human trafficking earlier.

  • April 4: An Army trooper was injured as three LeT militants managed to escape in an encounter at Seel area of Doda District.

  • April 3: The arrested LeT cadre, Sarfaraz Nawaz, revealed during interrogation that the outfit plans to target senior scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), especially those working on the space programme. Nawaz was brought to Bangalore recently from Muscat, capital of Oman, in connection with the probe into the Bangalore serial bomb blasts in July 25, 2008. Nawaz named a Pakistani terrorist, Jasim, as saying that the LeT planned to send terrorists to target the scientists, including ISRO chief G. Madhavan Nair. Jasim also named a woman Muslim scientist from Uttar Pradesh working on the Agni missile project as a potential target. Officials said Nawaz’s statement had detailed accounts of how the terrorists in Kerala operated on instructions from their leaders in Pakistan and Gulf.

    Meanwhile, the Police said, "Nawaz attended a meeting with Jasim and Ali, both members of LeT in Muscat. Things like how to carry out terror activities in India came up during discussions. This included attacks on top scientists. Nawaz told us that these things were at a discussion level during meetings in Muscat."

  • April 2: A top LeT militant, ‘district divisional commander’ Yusuf Gujjar alias Kamran, and his two associates were shot dead by Security Forces (SFs) at village Sarawan in the Kishtwar District. Deputy Inspector General of Police (Doda range), Hemant Kumar Lohia, said that SFs launched a search operation at Sarawan at 10 am after securing specific information about the presence of three top militants, including Yusuf Gujjar, in the area. During the encounter that ensued after a search operation was launched, all three of them were killed. Unconfirmed reports said that a Territorial Army trooper, Zafarullah, who had deserted his battalion in March 2009 and joined the LeT outfit, was also present in the area. His killing in the operation has not been confirmed so far by the SFs. It has, however, been confirmed that Zafarullah had joined Yusuf Gujjar’s group after deserting the Army. Recoveries made from the incident site include one AK-56 rifle with three magazines, four grenades, six Chinese grenades, one pistol and a large quantity of ammunition.

    Yusuf Gujjar alias Kamran had taken over as ‘district divisional commander’ of the LeT two years ago after the killing of his predecessor Lal Din Gujjar. Since then, he had been instrumental in recruitment of local youths in the LeT, extortion and other militant activities across Kishtwar District, including attacks on SFs. With this, a total of six LeT militants have been killed in the Keshwan belt of Kishtwar District in the last fortnight.

    In another incident, three militants shot at and seriously injured two brothers, Mohammed Ashraf and Mukhtiar Ahmed, in their house at Bei Nullah under the jurisdiction of Dharamshal Police station in Rajouri District. The militants escaped after the firing.

    Meanwhile, the Army arrested three over-ground workers (OGW) of the LeT from the Bharat area in Doda District. They were identified as Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Malik, Ghulam Qadir, and Noor Mohammed. Recoveries made from them include 50 AK rounds, one Chinese grenade, two electronic detonators and one Kenwood radio set. Further, another OGW, identified as Ghulam Nabi Malik, was arrested by the SFs from Baggi Nullah in Doda. 

    In addition, a LeT militant, identified as Shabu Ahmed alias Amaar, surrendered before the SFs at Udianpur in the Doda District. He handed over one .303 rifle with one magazine and 74 rounds, one Chinese grenade and one anti-personnel mine at the time of surrender.

  • April 1: A LeT militant, identified as Bilal Ahmad Koley, was arrested by the Security Forces (SFs) at Mohripora in the Anantnag District. A Police spokesman said one pistol, one pistol magazine and two hand grenades were recovered from his possession.

  • Pakistan has failed to deliver on its promise that it would not allow its territory to be used by terrorists to attack India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, accusing Islamabad of taking “no effective action” to tackle anti-India groups. Describing Pakistan as the “epicentre” of world terrorism, he said the Government in Islamabad was either not able to control terrorists or was “not willing to control them.” Dr. Singh, who is in London to attend the G20 summit, urged the international community to hold Pakistan to its commitment to rein in terrorists. “The world has a responsibility that Pakistan lives up to the promise that it will not allow its territory to be used to promote acts of terror directed against India,” he said.

  • Asked why he thought that the LeT, which was responsible for the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, regrouped so quickly and appeared to be “menacing” India again in Kashmir, Singh said: “It is because the promises that the government of Pakistan have made to control terrorism and all its instrumentalities, they are either not able to control them or they are not willing to control them ... In the past, it has been our experience that there are elements in the armed forces of Pakistan, some segments of the ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] involved in perpetrating acts of terror, particularly the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul. We have been told that the ISI in Pakistan has a different mindset. I hope that is right.” The Prime Minister also stated, that “We are victims of terrorism and we hope that whatever the world community plans to do they will pay adequate attention that terrorism ceases to be a problem in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan. We all know the epicentre of terrorism in the world today is Pakistan. The world community has to come to grips with this harsh reality.”

  • March 30: E. T. Zainudheen alias Abdul Sattar, who was a key operative in the suspected terrorist network having links with the LeT, was sent to the Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody till April 13 for interrogation in connection with the ongoing investigation into the operations of terrorist recruitment modules in the State.

  • March 29: SFs killed a self-styled commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Lolab area of Kupwara District, taking the death toll of militants and security force personnel to 32 in the past 10 days of counter-insurgency operations, officials said in capital Srinagar. The SFs launched a search operation in the Potushahi area of Lolab following information about the presence of militants in the area, the officials said. In the ensuing encounter between the two sides, LeT ‘commander’ Abu Bakr was killed. The officials said the operation was still in progress.

  • March 27: A teenaged militant of the LeT, Qazi Abdul Majeed, laid down arms in the Doda District.

    Another militant of the LeT outfit was reported to have escaped from outskirts of Doda town after taking shelter in a house for the night.

  • March 26: A day after the Army ended the Hafruda-Chowkibal operation in Kupwara District, the militants made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the Valley from Gurez sector in Bandipora District. One militant has been killed in the encounter so far, Defence spokesman Lt Col J. S. Brar said. Official sources said a group of militants, whose number has not be ascertained yet, tried to cross into the Indian side of the Line of Control (LoC) from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at Baktoor under the jurisdiction of Izmarg Police post, 12 kilometers from Gurez. This is the second infiltration attempt by militants in north Kashmir in the past week. 

    Meanwhile, a fresh encounter occurred in the Hachamarg area of Handwara. One of the militants, who had managed to escape the Army operation, had taken refuge in a house in the area. The militant was killed after a brief gunfight and one AK assault rifle was recovered from his possession.  

    In another encounter, Security Forces (SFs) killed a top ‘commander’ of the LeT, identified as Abdullah, a resident of PoK, at village Dorsoo in the Kupwara District.

    The intelligence sources said that the LeT is planning to infiltrate its trained cadres through the fenced borders in Rajasthan and Punjab to carry out subversion during the general elections scheduled to be held in April and May 2009. An unnamed Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official said, "The LeT, which lost 17 of its cadre in an encounter with Army in Hafruda forest area of Kupwara District in J&K in the past few days, may try to push in its men through the fenced border — the way it did in Kanachak in Jammu sector last year. Their plan is to send small batch of jihadis for quick action in Rajasthan and Punjab, instead of focusing only on the Kashmir Valley."

  • March 25: The Army said that the major infiltration bid foiled near the Line of Control in Kupwara District was possible due to the accurate and absolute human intelligence provided by sources from across the LoC and within the Valley. "We had accurate and absolute human intelligence from across the LoC and from our side as well about this infiltration bid. As many as 17 militants have been killed in the encounter while eight soldiers including an officer made the supreme sacrifice," Brigadier General Staff of Army’s Srinagar-based 15 Corps, Brigadier Gurmeet Singh, told reporters. He said most of the slain militants were foreigners and essentially affiliated with the LeT.

    Giving details of the operation, he said contact was initially established at three places - two in general area Drangyari in Shamsabari ridge of Chowkibal and another in Haphruda forest. "The operation is still in progress as searches are being conducted in the area. Although majority of the terrorists have been killed, the remnants, if any, will also be eliminated," he said adding the number of infiltrating militants as per the intelligence input was close to the number killed in the operation. He said there was no exchange of fire in the area since the evening of March 25 and only combing operation was going on. The cache of arms and ammunition recovered from the site of operation included 23 AK 47 rifles, 17 grenades, three UBGLs, 10 radio sets of various makes, two GPS equipments, water bottles, maps, snow gear, ice axes, rations, jihadi literature, medicine and some Indian currency.

    The officer refuted claims by the LeT that 30 soldiers were killed in the gun battle that lasted over five days. He said "We have lost eight of our soldiers. The rest of the information is not true." Brigadier Singh also said infiltration at this time of the year was expected as the snow starts melting along the LoC. According to him, "We have inputs that a large number of militants are waiting across the LoC to cross over to this side. We are prepared to deal with them." He added that at present around 300 to 400 militants were active in the Valley.

    A spokesman of the LeT claimed that the firefight was still going on in the area. "We have lost 12 men while 30 soldiers have been killed and 60 others injured," he claimed.

    Not ruling out Pakistan army''s support to terrorists involved in the Kupwara encounter, the Army chief General Deepak Kapoor said the LeT was still active in Pakistan despite the action that Islamabad claims to have taken against the outfit. He said that about 40 to 50 terror camps were operational across the LoC and terrorists are waiting for an opportunity to infiltrate. "The fact that there are camps on the other side obviously indicate that the possibility of involvement (of Pakistan army) cannot be ruled out," Kapoor told reporters in New Delhi.

  • March 24: Six militants were killed in the fresh exchange of fire between the suspected LeT militants and SFs in the forests near the LoC in Kupwara District as the operation entered its fifth day. The death toll in the ongoing operation, which has been extended from Chowkibal to Hafrada in the Vilgam area of Handwara, has now risen to 25 including 17 militants, seven soldiers and an Army Major. "Six militants were neutralized during exchange of fire today. With this the total number of militants killed in the operation since Friday has risen to 17," Defence spokesman Lt Colonel J S Brar said. He said a huge cache of arms and ammunition has been recovered from the area in which the operation was going on for the last over 108 hours. "The recoveries include 17 assault rifles, 13 AK magazines, 207 AK ammunition rounds, four Under Barrel Grenade Launchers (UBGL) and 21 UBGL grenades," he stated. One Kenwood radio set, a Thuraya satellite phone, two Global Positioning Systems (GPS), three map sheets, three matrix sheets, two have sacks and Rupees 9200 Indian currency have also been recovered from the area, he added.

  • March 23: The gun battle between infiltrators and Army in the forests of Kupwara District entered its fourth day as SFs shot dead five more suspected LeT militants while four soldiers also died, taking the death toll in the ongoing operation to 19. "A total of 11 militants have been killed in the operation so far which began in the early hours of Friday in Chowkibal area near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara district," a Defence spokesman said in capital Srinagar. He said while two militants were killed in early morning firefight, three more were shot dead in the afternoon. Four soldiers were also killed in the exchange of fire between the two sides. "Five militants and four soldiers were killed in today''s gun fight alone," he added.

    Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab, the lone arrested LeT militant in the November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks, acknowledged before the trial judge that he was a Pakistani national and also accepted the proposal of a Government-provided lawyer to defend him.

  • March 22: Four Army soldiers, including an officer of the rank of Major, and a suspected LeT militant were killed in the ongoing gun-battle between Army and a group of infiltrators along the LoC in Kupwara District, taking the death toll in the operation to 10. "Major Mohit Verma and three soldiers laid down their lives while valiantly fighting the infiltrators in Kupwara district," a Defence spokesman said in capital Srinagar. He said one militant was also killed in the exchange of fire between the two sides. The encounter has now entered into its third day and the operation has been going on for more than 60 hours now. The encounter began in Ragwar forests of Chowkibal area near the LoC in Kupwara District the small hours of March 20 and has now spread to Hafrada forests in the adjacent Vilgam village of Handwara area in the District as the militants have reportedly shifted from Ragwar to Hafrada, taking advantage of the terrain.

  • March 21: The death toll in the ongoing encounter near the LoC in Kupwara District went up to five as two more suspected LeT militants were shot dead by the Army. "Two more militants who tried to infiltrate into this side of Line of Control in the wee hours of yesterday have been killed. The death toll of militants in the ongoing operation has now gone upto five," a senior Army official said.

  • March 20: The Army foiled an infiltration bid near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kupwara District, killing three militants while four Army personnel sustained injuries in the gun-battle which was still continuing. Police sources in capital Srinagar said the Army laid an ambush in Rangwar forest area following specific information about a group of 10 to 12 militants infiltrating into Kashmir valley from Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The troops established contact with the infiltrators in the wee hours of the day following which an encounter ensued. Thus far, three militants have been shot dead while at least two others are still engaging the Security Forces in the area which has a dense forest cover. Official sources believe the militants are affiliated to the LeT. Four Army personnel sustained injuries in the encounter. This is the first major infiltration bid by militants in Kashmir valley in 2009 as the passes across the LoC were closed due to heavy snowfall during the winter.

  • March 18: The Bhakra Nangal Dam located on the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border is on the radar of terrorist outfits, including that of the Pakistan-based LeT, intelligence sources said in Chandigarh. Intelligence inputs spoke of a possible terrorist attack on the dam, the sources said adding security had been beefed up around the vital installation. Taking note of the possible strike by terrorist outfits, including the LeT, security agencies reportedly held a meeting with the Bhakra Beas Management Board. Adequate Security Force personnel had been deployed to foil any terrorist attack, the sources added.

  • March 17: 185 people from Kerala were selected by the LeT and provided preliminary training at camps conducted in various centres in Kannur and Ernakulam. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the terror link to Kerala obtained this information from three Kashmiri youngsters, identified as Fiyaz Ahammed (26), Sajad Ahammed Reshi alias Hanzulla and Shabbir Ahammed Tali alias Abu Saquib (20).

    These three youngsters took part in the terror camp organised by the LeT in Kupwara and Dorusa forest areas in Kashmir during October 2008, along with a five-member team from Kerala. The Lashkar camp had 17 members, including seven Pakistanis and three Kashmiris. Yasin, Fayaz, Shakeer alias Rahim and Fayiz who were killed in encounters with the Police in Kashmir and Abdul Jabbar, who had escaped the scene, constituted the militants’ team sent from Kerala to Kashmir. “The Malayalis joined the camp in the second week of September. Shakeer alias Rahim was their leader. He could speak Urdu,” said Fiaz Ahammed. Shabbir Ahammed Tali told the Police that 180 more youngsters were waiting in Kerala after the preliminary training to join the Jihad. “One Ustad had indoctrinated them,” said Tali.

  • March 14: Three top militants of the LeT outfit, including a Pakistani national, were shot dead by a combined force of the Army and Police during an encounter at village Sarwa in Keshwan area of Kishtwar District. Two LeT militants were shot dead by troops in a separate encounter at Handwara in the Kupwara District. Two AK-47 rifles and some ammunition were recovered from the encounter site. A financial coordinator of the LeT, identified as Nazir Ahmed, was arrested from Pangai village under Thanamandi tehsil in the Rajouri District. INR 50,000 hawala money was recovered from his possession.

  • March 10: The central nervous system for the next major terrorist attack on the US soil lies in Pakistan, said senior US officials and lawmakers. Two key US officials - Director of the National Intelligence and Director of the Military Intelligence - told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Pakistan had allowed Taliban to operate freely from Quetta while the tribal areas had become a “central nervous system” for al Qaeda. US lawmakers and officials also said that the LeT has the ideological commitment to replace al Qaeda as the next major terrorist group in the world. They said the Pakistani establishment and intelligence agencies had taken some measures against the LeT recently but were not co-operating fully with the United States in dealing with this threat. The committee was also told that LeT had supporters among the Pakistanis living in the United States who could abet its efforts to carry out a terrorist attack in North America. 

    “The central nervous system for the planning (of an attack on the US soil) would emanate from Fata,” said Senator Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, during a hearing on current and future worldwide threats to the national security of the United States. Earlier, chairman of the Senate Armed Service Committee, Senator Carl Levin, said that the Afghan Taliban forces under Mullah Omar operated with impunity from Balochistan, crossing unhampered into southern Afghanistan while al Qaeda was based in FATA from which attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan itself are launched. 

    Lt-Gen Michael Maples, Director of US Defence Intelligence Agency, noted that while “strategic rivalry” with India drove Pakistan’s defence strategy, al Qaeda was using FATA to recruit and train operatives, plan and prepare regional and transnational attacks, disseminate propaganda and obtain equipment and supplies. General Maples warned that while Pakistan has taken important steps to safeguard its nuclear weapons, “vulnerabilities still exist”.

  • March 9: Investigators have not found any concrete evidence so far of involvement of LeT in the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 3 and see the evidence of a ‘foreign hand’ behind the incident, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior. The committee is reported to have discussed the law and order across Pakistan, the Lahore terrorist attack and efforts for the release of abducted United Nations official John Solecki. Rehman Malik said the investigation into the Lahore attack was moving in a positive direction and the leads gathered so far provide sufficient evidence of involvement of a foreign hand in the terrorist attack. The committee expressed displeasure over the security arrangements made for the visiting team and termed the incident a security lapse. The committee members said the Government should have provided extra security to the guests because there were intelligence reports of a possible attack.

    Meanwhile, Sri Lanka rejected reports that India might have been involved in the terrorist attack against its national cricket team in Pakistan. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said "From our point of view, there is no Indian involvement… India has helped us in our counter-terrorist efforts. I do not see a need for India to target the Sri Lankan cricket team."

    A review board of the Lahore High Court (LHC) extended the detention of the chief of the Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (the LeT front), Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, and three other of its top leaders for 60 days while releasing two leaders. The board, comprising Justice Mian Najam-uz-Zaman, Justice Fazal-e-Miran Chauhan and Justice Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi, issued this order after the Home Department produced sufficient evidence against Hafiz Saeed and his associates and sought extension in their detention. The detention of Ameer Hamza, Col (retd) Nazir Ahmed, and Mufti Abdur Rehman Rehmani, has also been extended for 60 days. The board observed that the data produced before the board was sufficient for extending the period of their detention. The board further ordered the Punjab Government to provide subsistence allowance of PKR 25,000 to the families of the detenus while they would be kept at various places already declared sub-jails. In the cases of Qazi Kashif Niaz and Qari Yasin Baloch, the board opined there was no cogent evidence/material produced by the Home Department to justify extension in their detention.

    Under Article 10 (4) of the Constitution, the chief justice of the High Court concerned would appoint a review board consisting of a chairman and two other persons, each of whom is or has been a judge of the High Court. The detention period of all detenus was to expire on March 9 midnight. In December 2008, the Interior Ministry had ordered detention of eight LeT leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, on suspicion of involvement in the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November 2008.

  • March 8: An important Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) leader, Sarfaraz Navaz, who reportedly funded the Bangalore serial bomb blasts on July 25, 2008, confessed during his interrogation that the LeT was behind the July 25, 2008 Bangalore bomb blasts. Sarfaraz, who hails from Ernakulam in Kerala, was earlier arrested by the Research and Analysis Wing (R and AW) from Muscat in Oman on March 3. He was sent to Police custody till March 14. According to Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari, Sarfaraz collected about INR 320000 from like-minded people ahead of the bomb blasts. He also took part in reconnaissance of various spots and attempted to send a suspected terrorist involved in the blast across the border to train with the LeT in Pakistan. “Sarfaraz has links with LeT and has been in touch with Wali a.k.a. Rehan, a key member of LeT. We are sure that some more men will be picked up based on information provided by him,” the Commissioner said. Sarfaraz reportedly completed a three-year course (1995-98) at Nadwat-ul-Ulema (Institute of Islamic Scholarship) in Lucknow and joined as office secretary at the SIMI head office in New Delhi in 2000. Subsequently, he kept in touch with SIMI leaders from Kerala as he traveled to Muscat and Oman for work.

  • March 6: The Kolkata Police arrested a suspected LeT explosives expert,  identified as Abu Taher alias Mohammad Zakaria, at Sealdah railway station when he was  stepping out of Lalgola Passenger train. Taher confessed that he had fled to Rajshahi in Bangladesh in 1997 after carrying out low-intensity blasts in Delhi, Ludhiana in Punjab and Rohtak in Haryana. Taher is reportedly close to the LeT’s Bangladesh chief, Abdul Karim Tunda, who had sent him to LeT headquarter in Muridke near Lahore in Pakistan to be trained in handling explosives. Officers said the suspect had entered Murshidabad in West Bengal from Bangladesh in earlier this week. He was apparently booked on a north India-bound train, raising suspicion of a secret mission.

    Meanwhile, after questioning Taher, the Police arrested one of his associates, Abdus Sadique, from Suti in Murshidabad.

    The Special Task Force (STF) sources said that the LeT has opened a new wing to create unrest in India’s Northeast and the Districts of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh. This was discerned after interrogation of Abu Taher, a senior STF officer said. "The Lashkar-e-Taiba had opened a new wing named Tanzeen-e-Mohammedi, especially to create unrest in Northeast and the Districts of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh. Abu Taher was specially deputed by the LeT to develop a strong organisation for the purpose," the officer said. "Taher got the funding from Abdul Karim Tunda, the Pakistan based LeT operative who came to Kolkata to recruit people for his organisation," he added. Speaking on the antecedents of Taher, the officer said he was not only involved in the November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks, but also had links with several serial bomb blasts across the country in 2008. According to STF sources, Tunda paid INR 50,000 to Taher for his job apart from funding for the organisational purpose. Taher had reportedly recruited nearly 30 persons from the Bangladesh bordering Districts of North 24-Parganas, Coochbehar, Malda, North and South Dinajpur, Murshidabad and Nadia, the STF source said.  "We have definite proof that he was not only involved in the blast in Guwahati, but also had a plan to conduct a series of blasts in the North-Eastern states," the source added. Two passports, including one of Bangladesh and one of Pakistan, were recovered from Taher.

  • March 5: The former US National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia, Paul R. Pillar, said there is an undeniable link between the banned outfit LeT and the Pakistan Government, which saw it as a useful tool to keep insurgency brewing in Jammu and Kashmir. "Lashkar-e-Taiba, or LeT, is an Islamist Pakistani group that has gotten, certainly in the past and there''s a question about how much it still has in the present cooperation and sponsorship from elements of the Pakistani Government itself", Pillar said. "The Government saw it as a useful tool, particularly with regard to confronting the Indians in Kashmir and keeping an insurgency in Kashmir brewing", he added. "The official sponsorship is no longer there. The remaining question is to what degree there may be individuals or elements, particularly in the Pakistani military, that may have some continued relationship with the group," Pillar added.

    Meanwhile, Pillar also said that LeT shares the general ideology in many respects of al Qaeda, although operationally they have been focused more on Jammu and Kashmir and now in Pakistan itself.

  • March 4: Investigations into the November 26 Mumbai terrorist attacks have revealed that Mazhar Iqbal, a resident of Mandi tehsil (revenue division) of Punjab province in Pakistan, was code-named as Abu Al Qama by the LeT, official sources said. The central security agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) carried out detailed interrogation of LeT terrorists arrested worldwide to know the identity of Abu Al Qama. The other LeT terrorist identified by the security agencies was Zarar Shah whose actual name is Abdul Wajid, a resident of Sheikhpura District of Punjab province in Pakistan, the sources said.  About the role of the two terrorists in Mumbai attack, sources said that Iqbal alias Abu Al Qama alias Amjad had been responsible for training the terrorists who carried out the strikes in Mumbai. Iqbal, who reportedly is in-charge of LeT operations in India except Jammu and Kashmir, is wanted in other cases including the Red Fort encounter, attack on Akshardham temple in Gujarat and serial bombings on the eve of Diwali festival in 2005 in national capital Delhi.

  • March 3: A team of the Research and Analysis Wing (R & AW) tracked down an absconding accused in the Bangalore serial blasts case in Muscat, and sneaked him out of Oman, since India doesn't have an extradition treaty with that country. Sarfaraz Nawaz, 32, who allegedly played a major role in financing the Bangalore blasts, had reportedly sought refuge in Muscat. Investigating officials told Rediff that an R and AW team managed to track down Nawaz in Muscat. They added that Nawaz was ''smuggled into'' Bangalore on a chartered aircraft and the Bangalore Police are currently questioning him. Abdul Sattar, the prime accused in the case, had revealed Nawaz''s role in the serial blasts during his interrogation. Nawaz was reportedly close to Riyaz Bhatkal, a key LeT operative, who later took over the charge of the Indian Mujahideen.

  • March 1: A Special Police Officer (SPO), Fallail Singh, was shot dead by militants at Kastigarh in the Doda District. Official sources said the SPO had been attached with the Rashtriya Rifles (10th Battalion) and was on a ‘secret mission’ to locate a hideout of the militants in the upper reaches of Kastigarh when he was abducted by militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit in the evening. He was subsequently shot dead in captivity and the militants escaped with his weapon.

  • February 28: According to investigators of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, the Pakistan-based LeT had plans to set up an operational base in a rented accommodation in the posh Colaba area in south Mumbai in early 2008 to coordinate the 26/11 terror plan. The plan could not materialize because of some reasons, and finally the base was set up in Room Number 14 at Batatawala Chawl in Nagpada, also in south Mumbai.

  • February 27: Naval Chief of Staff Admiral Nauman Bashir said he had no proof that Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab - the lone LeT militant arrested after the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008 - used Pakistani waters to reach India. “I do not have any proof, so I cannot confirm that claim,” said Nauman while addressing a press conference in Karachi, Daily Times reported. “The Indian navy is much larger than ours, and if Ajmal Kasab had gone from here, then what were their coastguards doing and why they did not stop the terrorists?” the naval commander was quoted as saying by AFP. Nauman declined further comment on the Mumbai attacks. “There are many questions about the Mumbai attacks which need to be answered and until then, we cannot make any comment,” he said. 

    The Government of India rejected the Pakistan Navy chief’s claim. “The dossier handed over to Pakistan was irrefutable and solid on facts,” Home Minister P. Chidambaram was quoted as saying at a press conference. The Union Minister of External Affairs, Anand Sharma, also rejected the naval chief’s claim, and said Pakistan was engaging in ‘multiple speak, duplicity and denial’ and had ‘created this confusion’.

    The Delhi Police filed two fresh chargesheets in connection with the September 13, 2008 Delhi serial bomb blast case, registered at Connaught Place and Tilak Marg Police stations. The two chargesheets accused Abu Al-Kama, a Pakistan-based LeT ‘commander’, who is suspected to be involved in the 2005 Sarojini Nagar and other bomb blasts in Delhi, and was termed as one of the conspirators. The two chargesheets also named Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists, Mohammed Saif, Zeeshan Ahmed, Zia-ur-Rehman, Saquib Nissar, Mohammed Shakeel, Mohammed Sadiq Sheikh, Quamuddin Kapadia and Mohammed Hakim, as the accused. According to Police, the bombs at Central Park in Connaught Place, which claimed three lives and left 39 injured, were planted by accused Saif, Zia, Sajid and Khalid. Out of the four, Sajid and Khalid are still absconding. The Police also claimed that the bombs recovered from a dustbin near India Gate were planted by Mirza Shadab Beg and Shahzad, who are still at large.

  • February 26: Security Forces arrested a LeT militant, identified as Bashir Ahmed Nayak, from Mandwas Kothi in the Mendhar area of Poonch District. He was arrested from the house of Abdul Hamid, brother of LeT militant Rahmat Ullah.

    In another incident, troops recovered two AK rifles, two magazines, 103 rounds of AK, 437 Pika rounds, 26 hand grenades, nine UBGL grenades, three disposable rocket launchers and ration items during search operations in Mendhar.

  • February 25: The Mumbai Police filed a chargesheet against 47 accused persons in the case of November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack. The 47 include 35 wanted LeT terrorists from Pakistan, the lone arrested terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman alias Kasab and arrested Indian nationals Fahim Ansari and Mohammad Sabahuddin. The 11, 280 pages chargesheet includes the names of trainers, people aboard Al-Husseini (the ship which sailed from Karachi carrying the terrorists), those involved in purchasing boats, and those who were present at training and lodging sites. At a press conference in Mumbai, the Joint Commissioner (Crime) of Police, Rakesh Maria, named top LeT leaders Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, Abu Hamza, Abu Kaahfa, Zarar Shah and Hafiz Mohammed Saeed among the 35 listed. The wanted list also has names of two Pakistan army personnel, including a Major-General. However, it had to be ascertained whether these two belonged to the army or to the LeT hierarchy, Maria said. The chargesheet contains 2202 witness statements, including those of officers of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. It incorporates forensic evidence, fingerprint reports, and documentary and oral evidence collected in India and abroad. Transcripts of communication among the terrorists and their handlers, CallPhonex and Global Positioning System (GPS) records, and purchase and sale details of the Yamaha outboard motor also constitute the evidence.

    Meanwhile, Maria said that the terrorist attacks were the handiwork of the LeT. The role of its marine wing was established after the trawler Kuber was taken over. However, the chargesheet did not mention any role of Pakistan’s external intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

    According to the chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police, maps of target locations of the November 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks were handed over to the LeT commanders in Nepal. Nepal was chosen for exchanging the maps because it was a rendezvous point for the LeT, said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria, adding, with no visa restrictions on the entry of Indians into Nepal, it was a convenient transit venue for the outfit’s activities. The role of two Indian nationals, Fahim Ansari and Mohammad Sabahuddin, is the only instance of local involvement in the case as per the chargesheet. Nine maps were prepared by Ansari, which were handed over to Sabahuddin in Kathmandu in Nepal some time in January 2008. The latter in turn passed them on to LeT operatives, identified as Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Abu Kaahfa. The chargesheet states: “Both the arrested accused, viz. Fahim Mohammed Yusuf Ansari and Sabahuddin, were in constant touch with each other through e-mail messenger. Sabahuddin is termed as a very important functionary of the LeT in India.”

  • February 23: An over-ground worker of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was arrested from Yaripora in the Kulgam District. Some explosives and two hand grenades were recovered from his possession.

  • February 22: The officials of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) questioned two LeT militants, Fahim Arshad Ansari and Shahbuddin, arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police in 2008, and confronted them with the lone surviving terrorist of Mumbai multiple attacks, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman “Kasab”. During the questioning, Ansari, a resident of Navi Mumbai, allegedly told his interrogators about his training in Pakistan, including the 21-day ''Daura Aam'' (ordinary tour) basic combat course which was followed by a rigorous three-month advanced ''Daura Khaas'' (special tour) and later by ''Daura-e-Ribat'' (intelligence course).

  • February 19: Security Forces arrested a LeT militant from Guder village in the Kulgam District and recovered a hand grenade from his possession. A Police spokesman said the arrested militant has been identified as Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, a resident of Ukai in Kulgam.

    The Intelligence Bureau has warned at least six State Governments of potential Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) attacks against power grids and hydro-electric projects across the country, Times of India reports on February 19. According to the report, the LeT has recently collected information regarding these projects and grid stations.

    Mumbai was one of the 320 worldwide locations on the list of potential targets for commando-style terror strikes. The report suggested that the LeT, the outlawed terrorist group that planned much of the attack from Pakistan, “had ambitions well beyond causing mayhem in India”. “Western intelligence agencies have accessed the computer and email account of Lashkar’s communications chief, Zarar Shah, and found a list of possible targets, only 20 of which were in India,” report mentiond. Two of the November 2008 attack’s key planners – Shah and Lashkar’s operations chief, Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi – are now in police custody in Pakistan, it said.

    The report also said “there has been some speculation that raids in Spain which netted 12 men – an Indian and 11 Pakistanis – were a result of the investigations into Lashkar’s role in the Mumbai attacks”.

  • February 18: The Police arrested a LeT militant, identified as Mohammed Yasin, from the Batote town of Ramban District on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. Yasin was en route from Doda to Banihal to deliver a Chinese pistol with seven rounds and three SIM cards to the LeT ‘district commander’ Abu Moosa in Banihal forests, Senior Superintendent of Police Sunil Dutt said.

  • February 17: The Mumbai Police filed a 1,809-page chargesheet against 21 militants of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) who engineered bomb blasts across the country since 2005. The accused have been charged under sections 3 (1) (ii) for offence invoking punishment for not less than five years 3 (2) for conspiring and abetting an offence and 3 (4) relating to punishment for being part of an organised crime syndicate, of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) 1999. Sections 295 (A) (damaging a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 505 (2) (statements conducing public mischief), 507 and 506 (II) (relating to criminal intimidation), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging war against the country), 122 (collecting arms for waging war) and 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substances) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been applied. They are also charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) 1967 the Information Technology Act 2000, and the Arms Act. Most of the accused are from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and are well-qualified professionals. 

    The chargesheet states, “The Indian Mujahideen wanted to have bases in Mumbai and Maharashtra and therefore hired premises (in Sewree Cross Lane, Mumbai) and in Ashoka Mews and Kamaldeep Apartment at Kondhwa (Khurd) in Pune. Regular meetings were held at these premises for planning and carrying out terrorist operations and to harbour their members.” The IM, an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was responsible for bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Jaipur, Surat and Hyderabad. The IM’s media cell had its headquarters in Pune, conducted recces of places, hacked Wi-Fi networks in the city and sent threatening emails under its banner and from the email id ‘ [email protected]’ before and after the blasts, the chargesheet added. Six persons are wanted in the case, including the masterminds Riyaz Bhatkal alias Roshan Khan alias Aziz alias Ahmadbhai his brother Iqbal Bhatkal alias Mohammad bhai, and Amir Raza, the head of the IM.

    In addition, the chargesheet states that Raza was assisted by the SIMI and LeT. He formed the Sahabbuddin Brigade for attacks in the south, Mohammad Gajnavi brigade for attacks in the north, Shaheed-al-Zarkavi brigade for attacks on VVIPs and media groups. Riyaz gave the orders to the militants while Iqbal played a key role in indoctrination. Non-bailable warrants have been obtained for 13 militants in the chargesheet.

  • February 13: The US asked the United Nation to declare a Pakistani national, Asif Kasmani, as an international terrorist, for his involvement in the February 2007 Samjhauta Express bomb blasts. Kasmani is considered to be a link between the LeT and al Qaeda. The reasons cited by US to get Kasmani declared an international terrorist are his involvement in the Samjhauta Express blasts. 66 persons, including some Pakistani nationals, were killed and 13 others injured in explosions in two coaches of the Delhi-Attari special train on February 19, 2007.

  • February 12: Pakistan acknowledged for the first time that the Mumbai terrorist attacks were partly planned in Pakistan and that it has arrested six suspects, including the “main operator”. In its first detailed response to the dossier provided by India, Pakistan said criminal cases had been registered against nine suspects on charges of “abetting, conspiracy and facilitation” of a terrorist act. However, it said more evidence is required from India, including DNA samples of Ajmal Kasab, the lone LeT militant arrested during the attack, to establish his identity.

    Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Interior Adviser Rehman Malik told the media that FIR No: 01/009 had been lodged with the Special Investigation Group in the Federal Investigation Agency against nine suspects. The Pakistani investigators have identified Hammad Amin Sadiq as the alleged ‘mastermind’ of the whole conspiracy. Malik said the cases against nine persons had been registered under the Anti-Terror Act and the Cyber Crime Act and they would be tried under these two sets of laws. He said six of the nine accused named in the FIR have already been arrested and being interrogated, two have been identified but not arrested so far while investigations are still under way into the possible involvement of the ninth accused. He identified those arrested as Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, a LeT ‘commander’ who was arrested from Muzaffarabad soon after the Indian Government alleged that the LeT was responsible for the Mumbai attacks, Javed Iqbal, who was arrested from Barcelona in Spain, Hammad Amin Sadiq, believed to be the main operator belonging to southern Punjab, Zarar Shah, Mohammad Ashfaq and Abu Hamza. The name of Ajmal Kasab is reportedly not included in the FIR.

    He also said some of those arrested by the security agencies of Pakistan for possible involvement in the Mumbai attacks belong to the LeT. Malik said Javed Iqbal, who was based in Barcelona, was the person who paid $200 for the ‘Internet Domain’ that was also used for communication and planning for the Mumbai attacks. “Having ascertained the involvement of Javed Iqbal, we somehow lured him into coming to Pakistan and he was arrested on his arrival,” Malik said. He also said the e-mail sent by ‘Deccan Mujahideen’ claiming responsibility for the Mumbai attacks was believed to be prepared and sent by Zarar Shah, who was responsible for communication link in the whole operation. Mailk disclosed that the money to fund these attacks was transferred from Pakistan and was received in Italy. This money transaction was made through a Pakistani bank. He also said after thorough investigations by the Pakistani security and intelligence agencies it was learnt that these alleged terrorists operated from two bases — one inside Karachi and the other outside but not very far away from Karachi. He also disclosed that the terrorists used three boats for traveling to Mumbai, one named ‘Al-Hussaini’ and the other ‘Al-Ghaus’. For communication, they used ‘Call Phonic’ system and they also bought Indian cell phone SIMs for communication from inside India. He also pointed out that the satellite phone connection that was used for communication during the Mumbai attack was registered in the Middle East and not in Pakistan.

    Malik said the findings have already been shared with India. The Indian high commissioner in Islamabad was called to the foreign office and the report was handed over to him officially. “We also have forwarded a set of 30 questions for which we would need answers as early as possible to support and further the investigation process on our side. We have asked the Indian government to provide us the DNA samples of the lone surviving terrorist, Ajmal Kasab, to ascertain his nationality, as we don’t have any record of the individual with Nadra (National Database Registration Authority)… At the same time we would like to have the statement given by Ajmal Kasab to the Indian investigators, how this group of terrorists managed to sneak past the Indian security and intelligence agencies guarding their coastal lines, and how these nine persons managed to travel in a small boat and reach the Indian coast.”

  • February 10: The local Taliban leadership has decided to send its militants to Islamabad as a reaction to the military operations in Darra Adamkhel and Swat Valley in the NWFP and in this regard chalkings on the walls of Islamabad are already appearing. Many religious scholars in Islamabad have also received messages from the Taliban that they have only two options, either to support the Taliban or leave the capital or they will be considered collaborators of the “pro-American Zardari government” which, they claim, is not different from the previous Musharraf regime. The Taliban have also reportedly accused some militant leaders of the tribal areas and some leaders of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) of trying to stop youngsters from fighting the Pakistani forces. Taliban have declared all these “pro-Pakistan” Jihadis as their enemies. The names of Maulvi Nazir from South Wazirastan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur from North Waziristan, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Maulana Farooq Kashmiri and Syed Salahuddin have been included in the hit lists of the Taliban, who have threatened some HM leaders in Swat and Dir to leave the areas as soon as possible. In addition, another Taliban leader in the Mohmand Agency, Maulvi Omar Khalid, has threatened LeT cadres to leave the tribal agency or face death. Khalid has claimed that these militants are only interested in fighting against the foreign troops in Afghanistan or against India.

  • February 9: Army personnel shot dead a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant after a brief encounter at Kalihand Top in the Doda District. The slain militant was identified as Bashir Ahmed, a 22 year-old resident of Tantna in the same District. One Self Loading Rifle and two magazines were recovered from his possession. Bashir Ahmed was reportedly operating in different parts of Doda for the last one and a half years.

    The Lashkar-e-Taiba said it has no plans of expanding its operations to the United States or Britain and the outfit posed no threat to Western World. "The CIA report issued after Mumbai attacks which describes Lashkar-e-Taiba as a threat to the US and Britain is baseless, misleading and far from truth. CIA should not get swayed by the Indian propaganda," LeT spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi said in a tele-statement. Ghaznavi claimed the LeT had no network in the US or the UK and has no intention of starting armed actions in these countries. "We have made it clear time and again that LeT had no role in the Mumbai attacks. India wants to sabotage the freedom struggle of Kashmiri people by getting it labeled as terrorism at international level," he said.

  • February 8: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has told US President Barack Obama that British-born Pakistani terrorists, who have extensive contacts with the LeT, are the biggest threat to the US. American intelligence chiefs have told the president that the CIA has launched a vast spying operation in Britain to prevent a repeat of the 9/11 attacks being launched from Britain. It said intelligence chiefs believe that a British-born Pakistani extremist entering the US under a current visa waiver program for all Britons is the most likely source of another terrorist attack on the American soil. A former CIA officer who had advised Obama told Sunday Telegraph that the CIA had stepped up its British operations after the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai by the LeT, which has an extensive web of supporters in Britain, and is now as big a threat to the US and Britain as al Qaeda.

  • February 3: The Jama'at-ud-Da'awa (JuD, the LeT front) released the appeal it had made to the United Nations pleading its innocence and claiming that it has no link with al Qaeda, Taliban or the Mumbai terrorist attacks. The appeal signed by JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, was released on the eve of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's visit to Pakistan. The appeal said the UN had taken a hasty decision in proscribing the JuD, its chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and others members and termed the UN decision detrimental to the interests of Pakistan. It said that millions across the country were directly or indirectly benefiting from JuD's services particularly in the areas of health, education, water, sanitation, rehabilitation and particularly the provision of

    food and shelter to the homeless. Saeed requested the UN Secretary General to mobilize his good offices for the lifting of sanctions and delisting of all JuD entities. "We categorically make it clear and declare that Jamaat ud Dawa is neither an associate of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden nor the Taliban, hence the embargo imposed is materially in contradiction to that set out in their rules and highly unjustified under the international law of human dignity and freedom," Saeed said. He said the UN Security Council's decision was not based on any solid evidence and relied entirely on the one-sided story of the Indian lobby, which was devoid of any material facts provided by an independent and impartial international judicial system. "Jamaat ud Dawa or Hafiz Muhammad Saeed have never ever supplied, sold or transferred arms or any related material to Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden or Taliban and recruited any one for or on behalf of Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden or Taliban nor have supported their acts or activities or any of their cell, affiliate, splinter group or even derivative group thereof," he said.

  • February 1: Three Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were killed in a 10-hour long encounter with the SFs in the forest area of Handwara in Kupwara District. A joint team of the Special Operations Group of Police and troops of Rashtriya Rifles launched search operations in the forest area of Wadar Bala in the early hours following specific information about presence of militants in the area. In the ensuing encounter three unidentified militants were killed. Two AK-56, one AK-47, one pistol, nine magazines and large quantity of ammunition besides ration and logistic materials were recovered from the hideout, which is perched in a snowbound area at a height of 2700 meters above sea level, said a Defence spokesman.

  • January 31: A woman, Shah Bano Begum, who was earlier gang raped by four LeT militants, caught hold one of them inside Bhaderwah Police Station in the Doda District during identification parade and  assaulted him, resulting in the intervention of  Police Officials. The woman reportedly forced Police to register a rape case against four LeT militants including the arrested one, Imtiyaz Ahmed, a resident of Nalthi are in Bhaderwah. Three others were identified as Ashiq Hussain alias Abu Umair, a LeT ‘area commander’, Mohammed Ashraf alias Abu Jehadi and Mudassar Hussain alias Abu Furqan, residents of Dhandi and Chakka villages of Bhaderwah.

  • January 30: A Pakistani investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008 has shown they were not planned in Pakistan, the Pakistani High Commissioner to Britain told an Indian television news channel. "Pakistani territory was not used so far as the investigators have made their conclusions," Wajid Shamsul Hassan told NDTV in an interview. Hassan said the nationality of Ajmal Kasab, the lone LeT militant arrested during the attacks, did not necessarily prove the hand of Pakistan in the attacks. "He does come from Pakistan, that doesn’t mean that Pakistan has sponsored whatever he carried out in Bombay… We are waiting for the report to be finalised, and once the report comes, it will make everything crystal clear. We do not think that evidence is credible," said Hassan. Hassan also said Pakistan’s examination of the Indian dossier would show its ‘non-involvement’ in the attacks and questioned the veracity of the Indian information, saying it ‘could be fabricated’.

  • January 28: LeT 'commander' Abu Hamza was killed in a 16-hour gun-battle in the Amargarh area of Sopore town in Baramulla District. Official sources said Hamza was holed up inside the house of one Akbar Lone since the evening of January 27 when the area was cordoned off by the SFs following specific information about his presence in the village. One soldier, identified as Sohan Lal Sharma of the Rashtriya Rifles (52nd Battalion), was also killed in the encounter and another soldier was injured in the initial firing by the slain militant. One AK 47 rifle and four AK magazines were recovered from the encounter site.

    Another Lashkar 'commander' Abu Abdul Rehman was killed by the SFs in the Bakihara area of Handwara in Kupwara District. Four SF personnel were wounded in the encounter.

  • January 27: Hundreds of students protested as a Government official took over administrative control of the JuD headquarters in Muridke. The protest, organised for the second day, came as a senior official from the Punjab Government, Khaqan Babar, started his job running the schools and hospital at the JuD headquarters. About 500 students from a school in the sprawling JuD compound in Muridke gathered outside the main office and chanted slogans against the Government. "The Government has occupied the school illegally," they said. Witnesses said the protesters were school boys aged eight to 18, and students from a JuD-run madrassa (seminary). Protesters also gathered on the main highway linking provincial capital Lahore to the national capital Islamabad. They blocked the traffic for about half an hour before dispersing peacefully, police said. They carried banners and placards condemning "Indian pressure" and demanding that the Government lift a ban on the JuD.

  • January 26: More than 200 protesters demonstrated against Pakistan’s appointment of an administrator to oversee the headquarters of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (JuD), the LeT front. “Death to America”, “Death to Israel and Jews”, shouted the protesters, carrying banners and placards that read: “Cancel administrator’s appointment,” “Remove the ban on the Jamaatud Dawa” and “We condemn the UN resolution.” Abu Ehsan, a former JuD administrator, while criticizing the January 25-takeover said, “This is a wrong step. First the government, under American and Indian pressure, placed a ban through the UN and now the Punjab government has... We strongly condemn this action and ask the government to review its decision.” 

    The provincial Government of Punjab has taken over the Muridke headquarters of the JuD, appointing an administrator to run the schools and medical facilities on the premises, and renaming it Punjab Welfare Institute, The Hindu reported. The Punjab Government on January 25 named Khakan Babar, a senior official in the provincial Government, as the chief administrator of the assets at the Markaz-e-Taiba, an extensive facility located outside the provincial capital Lahore. He will report to the Lahore District Commissioner. “(The administrator’s) job is to ensure that the schools and dispensaries in Muridke can continue to function, and at the same time ensure that the other purposes for which it was being used don’t function,” said Pervaiz Rashid, an adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

  • January 25: Personnel of the Border Security Force foiled an attempt by a suspected suicide squad of around four LeT militants, who were trying to infiltrate into Indian side of the border under Kanachak sector of Jammu District. After an encounter, militants reportedly managed to exfiltrate into Pakistan. "Timing of the infiltration attempt was clearly aimed at making an attempt to disturb Republic Day celebrations in the City tomorrow," sources said.

  • January 24: Two suspected LeT militants were shot dead by Security Force (SF) personnel during an encounter in Handwara area of Kupwara District. "Two militants were killed in a joint operation by Police and Army at Shah Nagri in Handwara," official sources said. Some arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter site.

  • January 23: Two arrested LeT cadres, identified as Fahim Ansari and Mohammad Salahuddin, were remanded to Police custody till February 5 in connection with the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.

  • January 22: Germany held the Pakistan-based LeT responsible for the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack but refrained from stating if other groups having al Qaeda links could also be involved, reports The Hindu. "Based on whatever investigations we have conducted till now, we feel it is Lashkar that is responsible for these attacks," president of Germany’s Federal Police, Joerg Ziercke, told journalists In New Delhi. Ziercke also said that the LeT was active in Germany also but it did not pose any "operative risk". Adding there were two or three persons with suspected links with the LeT, who had undergone training in tribal areas of Pakistan but no investigation could be conducted there. Ziercke also conformed that Germany’s elite commando unit GSG9 would cooperate with its Indian counterpart, the National Security Guard, (NSG) in training of personnel and counter-terrorism efforts. On the investigation of the attack, Ziercke told that Germany would be interested in the outcome of the investigations as three German nationals were killed in the Mumbai carnage, saying, "The Federal Prosecutor-General of Germany has already initiated legal proceedings."

  • January 21: The special investigation team of the Kerala Police probing the alleged terror links in the State filed a chargesheet against 22 alleged terrorists before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Court in Thalassery. The accused have been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. While four of the 22 accused were shot dead by the Security Forces in Jammu and Kashmir, the whereabouts of five others, identified as Naseer, Shafas, Ibrahim Moulavi, Sabir alias Ayub and Umar Farooque, is yet to be ascertained. The Court, however, granted bail to Jaleel who was the first to be arrested on October 19, 2008 in connection with the investigation. The accused was granted statutory bail on the ground that no chargesheet was filed against Jaleel who had been in custody for the past 92 days.

    According to the chargesheet, Sainuddin, who was arrested from Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh, on January 20, 2009, had organised activities for recruiting youth with the intention of sending them to get arms training from the LeT in Jammu and Kashmir and in Pakistan to wage war against India. He had organised youth under the guise of the activities of ‘tariqat’ (a school of Sufism) meetings at Neerchal, Kanhangad, Malappuram, a Makham shrine at Mudikkal Kaniyapuram and the dargah (shrine) of Jamiya Nooriya in Hyderabad. The accused had been engaged in conspiracy since March 2006 to carry out subversive activities in the country, the chargesheet said. The chargesheet also added that the group had decided to send Fayaz, Fayiz, Abdurrahim, Yasin and Jabbar for training in Pakistan and they had joined the LeT and undergone training.

  • January 18: A top Lashkar-e-Taiba 'commander' was arrested by Police from Sartangal bazaar in the Bhaderwah town of Doda district. Senior Superintendent of Police Prabhat Singh said Imtiyaz Ahmed alias Saidullah was detained by a Police party which identified him while roaming in the market. Saidullah is a close associate of LeT 'district chief' Ashiq Hussain. From his possession, Police recovered one Chinese pistol, one HE-36 grenade and six pistol rounds.

  • January 14: Mohammad Ahsan Dar, a top militant and one of the founders of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM), was arrested by Police in the Bandipora District. Dar, a close associate of Hizb chief Syed Salahuddin, was co-ordinating activities of the LeT, HM, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG, North Kashmir), Abdul Gani Mir, said in Baramulla. Acting on specific information that Dar had returned from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and was co-ordinating the activities of different militant outfits, the Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested him in the early hours while he was trying to sneak into Sumbal area from his home town Pattan, he said. Dar, self-styled chief commander of Muslim Mujahideen, offered no resistance while being arrested, Mir said. The DIG said Dar had parted ways with the HM following differences with the top leadership of the outfit and founded Muslim Mujahideen in 1992. However, he remained close to Salahuddin, who also heads the United Jihad Council (UJC) – an amalgam of militant outfits active in the State. Dar, who is in his 50s, was arrested in 1993 and released in 1999 after six years in detention, Mir said, adding he had also visited Pakistan and has remained in close contact with the ISI and other Pakistani agencies. He has reportedly been regularly receiving funds from them.

    According to preliminary investigations, Dar had infiltrated into the Kashmir valley and was active since last one year. Dar had organised various attacks on Security Forces and was trying to give a fresh impetus to militant activities within the State and in the rest of the country. He had infiltrated into India via the Bangladesh border. Some incriminating documents have been recovered from him and further investigations are on, the DIG said.

  • January 13: Two hardcore militants of the LeT and HM outfits and two Police personnel were killed during an encounter at Lallu Khetar in the Kalakote area of Rajouri District. Inspector General of Police (Jammu), K. Rajendra, said a team of Special Striking Reserve and Police launched a search operation at Lallu Khetar at 3.30 pm (IST) after receiving inputs about the presence of militants in the area. In the ensuing encounter that lasted for approximately 90 minutes two militants and two Policemen, Mushtaq Ahmed and Nissar Hussain, were killed. At least two militants managed to escape taking cover of the forest area. The slain militants have been identified as Ashfaq, a HM ‘commander’, and Abu Talha, a LeT ‘commander’. Both of them were operating in different parts of Rajouri district for past several months and were involved in many subversive activities. Two AK-56 rifles, two magazines, 37 rounds, four hand grenades, one radio set, one mobile telephone and several incriminating documents were recovered from the incident site.

    In another search operation, Police arrested two over-ground workers of the LeT outfit from Upper Thathri area of Doda District and recovered INR 20,000 worth Hawala money besides four SIM cards of two private telecom companies from them. They have been identified as Waseem Raza and Najam-ud-Din Gujjar. They were reportedly heading towards a forest area to deliver the money and four SIM cards to some LeT commanders when they were arrested by police.

  • January 12: A LeT terrorist, identified as Safique Iliyas alias Deepak, was arrested by the West Bengal’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from Malda District. Safique was later produced before the Magistrate’s Court at Jangipur in Murshidabad District and the court remanded him to 14-days Police custody. Safique, a resident of Rajshahi in Bangladesh, was instructed to spy on the movement of Army personnel in Siliguri, CID officials said. “Safique crossed over to India on January 3 and was sheltered in the house of Haji Akhtar Hussein at Harishchandrapur in Malda District. We arrested both on a tip-off,” Siddh Nath Gupta, Deputy Inspector-General (Operations) of CID, said in Kolkata on January 13. Safique had planned to set up a shop near the Army establishment in Siliguri to ute his job, Gupta said, adding “Safique had confessed that he helped two Lashkar-e-Taiba men to cross over to India via the international border in the State last year. One of them, Sikandar-e-Azaam, was later arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police in June.”  The Delhi Police had reportedly arrested him in 1998 on the charge of transporting RDX from Bangladesh to Uttar Pradesh during 1997-98. He was lodged in the Tihar jail till 2003, before being granted bail and escaping to Bangladesh. Nine pre-activated SIM cards, fake Indian currency worth INR 50,000 and a forged voter identity card were recovered from him. 

    Meanwhile, two LeT militants, identified as Fahim Ansari and Mohammad Sabahuddin, who were arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police for carrying out an attack on a CRPF Group Centre in Rampur on January 1, 2008, and who are allegedly involved in the November 26, 2008-terrorist attacks in Mumbai, were remanded to Police custody till January 23.

  • January 10: The house arrest of Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba [LeT]) founder Hafiz Mohammed Saeed has been extended for another 60 days, Punjab Additional Home Secretary Usman Anwar said. "His house has already been declared a sub-jail where he will spend the rest of the detention period," Anwar said, adding that the Punjab Government extended the detention on orders from the federal Government.

  • January 9: The Punjab Police have included names of four Jama’at-ud-Da’awa (the front organisation of LeT) leaders, including Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, in a list of leaders of banned groups. The Police also issued a list of 30 suspected militants involved in extremist activities. Police sources said other Jama’at-ud-Da’awa leaders put on the list were Abdur Rehman Makki, Abu Hashim and Ameer Hamza, the channel added. Three people mentioned in the 30-name list were category ‘A’ - most wanted – and carried PKR 40 million as head money.

  • January 8: Police said it has arrested two over-ground workers of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit from Khalloen in the Pulwama District and recovered arms and ammunition from their possession. A Police spokesman said the duo has been identified as Abdul Hanan Najar and Shabir Ahmad Bhat. One hand grenade, 15 rounds of AK ammunition, a tent of foreign-make and three woolen blankets were recovered from their possession.

  • January 7: The Pakistani Government confirmed that Mohammad Ajmal Amir alias Ajmal Kasab – the lone LeT militant arrested during the Mumbai terrorist attacks on November 26, 2008 – is a Pakistani. “The initial investigations have confirmed that Ajmal Kasab, involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks, is a Pakistani national. Further investigations are under way,” Foreign Office Spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said. Sources in the foreign ministry said security agencies analysed the information India had gathered and shared with Pakistan, and concluded in a preliminary probe that Kasab is a Pakistani. Pakistan had earlier said its National Database and Registration Authority had no record of the man. Sadiq confirmed that the Interior Ministry had given the information to the Foreign Office. But he denied Pakistan would provide official support to Ajmal Kasab. “Kasab has committed a heinous crime. He will not be provided any official support or consular access,” the spokesman said.

    Meanwhile, the Information Minister Sherry Rehman said that “Ajmal Kasab is a Pakistani. Further investigations are under way.” Earlier, a high-ranking Government official told Dawn that the preliminary investigation had provided enough information to conclude that the man at present in India’s custody was from a Punjab village, and perhaps belonged to a militant group that was bent upon destabilising the region by undermining the peace process.

    Answering a question about consular access to Kasab, a senior official said the militant had damaged Pakistan ‘like no other’. “We are not yet sure when to ask for consular access. We may not ask for it. He is involved in a heinous crime,” the unnamed official said.

    Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked his National Security Adviser Major General (retd) Mehmud Ali Durrani for giving a statement on Mohammad Ajmal Amir alias Ajmal Kasab, the lone LeT militant arrested during the Mumbai terrorist attacks on November 26, 2008, without taking him into confidence. Before the formal announcement, Prime Minister Gilani told Geo News on telephone that Durrani had given a statement to an Indian news channel regarding Ajmal Kasab without taking him into confidence. Gilani said that Durrani’s statement had tarnished the country’s image. “So I decided to sack him,” he told Geo News.

  • January 6: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed the Pakistan-based LeT for the Mumbai terrorist attack and pointed out that there was enough evidence to show that the attack was executed with military precision and also had the support of some official agencies of Pakistan. Speaking at a conference of Chief Ministers on internal security in New Delhi, the Prime Minister said terrorism was largely sponsored from outside the country, mainly from Pakistan, which “utilised terrorism as an instrument of State policy.” “We must convince the world community that States that use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy must be isolated and compelled to abandon such tactics. We must engage vigorously in debates to press the point that ‘soft’ support for terrorism cannot any longer be endorsed,” Singh stated.  

    While admitting that India’s problems were compounded by the fact that “we have a highly unpredictable and uncertain security environment in our immediate neighbourhood,” he said the Governments in some of our neighbouring countries “are very fragile in nature.” He cautioned that the “more fragile a Government, the more it tends to act in an irresponsible fashion. Pakistan’s responses to our various demarches on terrorist attacks are an obvious example.” Emphasising the need for co-operation with the States and allaying their apprehensions, Singh assured the Chief Ministers that all anti-terror initiatives would be undertaken with the “closest possible interaction” with the State Governments and their apparatus. “We do recognise that it is not possible to effectively fight terror without the whole-hearted co-operation of the Police machinery at all levels,” the Prime Minister said, adding, an effective coastal command was also being created. 

  • January 3: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US gave the evidence to Pakistan, indicating the involvement of terrorists including the LeT handlers based in its territory in the Mumbai multiple terror attacks. The London-based daily reports that the evidence proves that the strikes were orchestrated by militants based in Pakistan. The report adds that Zarar Shah, a communications specialist of LeT, confessed during his interrogation in Pakistan that he advised the terrorists over phone as the attacks unfolded. 

    The FBI had decoded Skype calls over the internet between the terrorists in the two five-star hotels and a Jewish centre in Mumbai with their LeT controllers in Pakistan, identified as   Zarar Shah, Abu Hamza and Abu Qafa, said the report. During the conversation, the men were also instructed to kill the entire Israeli national held captive in the Jewish hostel, but to spare all the people belonging to Muslim community, it added.

  • January 2: The LeT rejected a report that one of its leaders had acknowledged the group’s involvement in the multiple terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed officials, reported on December 31, 2008 that Pakistani authorities had obtained a confession from a senior LeT member. The suspect, identified as Zarar Shah, allegedly told investigators he had played a key role in the planning of the November attacks. "Lashkar-e-Taiba rejects the Wall Street Journal report," its spokesman Abdullah Ghaznavi said in an email statement. "India has failed to furnish any evidence of Lashkar-e-Taiba’s involvement in the Mumbai attacks and America is now trying to help it out," he claimed. No evidence could be found "on the scene of the crime, and now there is an effort to manufacture evidence thousands of miles away," he added.

  • January 1: According to India’s Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, less than two weeks after it was banned by the United Nations, the LeT front Jama’at-ud-Da’awa is active, CNN-IBN reported. Menon said the JuD is now operating under a new name. He also said the JuD has a new Website, which is being used to collect money to fund terrorist activities. Speaking to All India Radio, Menon rejected Pakistan’s offer of joint investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks on November 26. The JuD may be planning to rename itself as ''Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool'' (Movement for defending the honour of the Prophet) to avoid restrictions which Pakistan could be forced to impose on it because of UNSC sanctions. The indication that JuD may be thinking of changing its name reportedly came as some senior cadres of the outfit recently organised a rally in Pakistan under the banner of Tehreek-e-Hurmat-e-Rasool.

 

 

 

 

 
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