Pak terror group claims hand in Pune blast

An unknown group calling itself the Laskhar-e-Taiba Al Alami claimed on Tuesday it was behind bomb attack in Pune that killed nine people. A person who identified himself as Abu Jindal called The Hindu here, described himself as the spokesman of the LeT Al Alami (international), and claimed the group had carried out the attack because of what he said was India’s “refusal” to discuss Kashmir in the forthcoming talks with Pakistan.

The telephone number that showed up on the caller identity carried an area code common to the Waziristan tribal area and Bannu, the adjoining district in the North-West Frontier Province.

Kashmir jihadists do not believe in India-Pakistan talks on Kashmir and have long said their aim is to seize the State by force from India in order to “liberate” it, which makes the caller’s statement intriguing and difficult to reconcile with the standard jihadist line.

The caller also gave India’s “alliance” with America as another reason for the attack. “Joh bhi America ka ittehad hoga, hum uskey khilaf jang ladengey, chahey who India ho ya Pakistan (we will wage war against any ally of America, whether it is India or Pakistan).” He said the group had split from the Laskhar-e-Taiba because it took orders from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. The caller sounded like an educated boy in his late teens or early 20s. He said he was calling from Miramshah in North Waziristan and declined to divulge the name of the group’s leader. Asked how the group had carried out the Pune attack, he said it had its “sources” in India and had activated them to carry out the attack.

Meanwhile, Pune police on Tuesday said they have got "vital" information on Saturday's blast from the CCTV footage even as four persons with suspected links with Indian Mujahideen were detained in connection with the attack. Pune police chief Satyapal Singh said they had got the forensic report and it was established that RDX and ammonium nitrate were used in the attack at the German Bakery, a popular eatery in Pune. "We have the CCTV footage. We have got some vital information from it," Singh told reporters. The explosives were hidden inside a bag which was lying under a table in the cafe. It exploded when a waiter tried to open it. Singh said 24-year-old Abhishek Saxena from Lucknow succumbed to his injuries last night, taking the toll in the blast to 10.

Police said the two suspects were picked up from Janwadi area in Pune and Kudalwadi in the neighbouring industrial township of Pimpri. One of the suspects who was nabbed from Kudalwadi area is believed to have been associated with Indian Mujahideen leader Riyaz Bhatkal during his stay in Pune.

The Centre has not ruled out foreign involvement including a Headley link while some Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives have come under the scanner of security agencies. LeT operative and Pakistani-origin American David Coleman Headley, lodged in a Chicago jail in the US for his alleged involvement in the 26/11 attacks, had surveyed the area near the blast site during his trips to Pune last year.

Information was being gathered about Mohsin Chaudhury, a Pune resident with links to IM and who is missing, while trying to ascertain the role of Pakistan-based terror group Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) which has close links with the Indian outfit. Maharashtra's Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) is planning to question a few jailed IM men to get some leads.

Among those likely to be questioned were Saddiq Sheikh, believed to be one of the founders of IM, and Mansoor Peerbhoy. The IM is stated to be an amalgam of former SIMI cadres and LeT operatives. Another IM terrorist Shahzad arrested in connection with 2008 serial blasts in Delhi will also be questioned over the presence of the terror group's sleeper cells in Maharashtra, especially in Pune.

Vowing to carry out attacks across India, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir-based terror group HuJI has warned international sportspersons against visiting the country to participate in upcoming events like the Hockey World Cup, IPL and Commonwealth Games. Asia Times Online claimed Ilyas Kashmiri, a former Pakistani commando whose 313 Brigade is an operational arm of al-Qaeda, has vowed to continue attacks across India while threatening international sportspersons to face the consequences if they chose to visit the country.

"We warn the international community not to send their people to 2010 Hockey World Cup, IPL and Commonwealth Games... Nor should their people visit India - if they do, they will be responsible for the consequences," Kashmiri, the fugitive chief of PoK chapter of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, warned in a message delivered to the Asia Times online.

The government on Monday said it cannot rule out the possibility of involvement of foreign hand in the Pune blast, including a David Headley link, even as it disclosed that an ISI-sponsored 'Karachi Project' was on to doctrinate Indian youth into terror.

Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said there is definitely a Headley link (to Pune blast) since it was very close to Osho Ashram which he had receed. It was difficult to believe there was no link with the Headley videos. He said Headley had spoken of an ISI-sponsored 'Karachi Project' to take away Indian youth to Pakistan and indoctrinate them to carry out terror attacks in India.

On Headley, Pillai said "during his interrogation, Headley has said that the 'Karachi Project' was launched by ISI with the objective of taking Indian youths to Pakistan, have them indoctrinated, give them training and send them back to India to carryout terror attacks".

Gilani offer to enhance cooperation

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday offered to enhance cooperation with India in the field of intelligence to avert attacks like the Pune blast that could “further the agenda of terrorists” who were holding the bilateral ties “hostage“. Gilani made the remarks during a meeting with visiting U.S. Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also expressed Pakistan’s “strong commitment to resolve all core issues between the two countries through peaceful means and composite dialogue.”

“The Prime Minister condoled the loss of lives in the recent terrorist incident in Pune and expressed his government’s readiness to enhance cooperation in intelligence fields with India to ward the possibility of any such untoward incident which could only further the agenda of terrorists,” said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s House.

“Pakistan had made progress in bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai incident to justice and was determined not to allow use of its soil for any terrorist activity against any of its neighbours,” Gilani said.

Pakistan has “all along been calling for the resumption of dialogue but unfortunately it was the Indian side which had not found it feasible,” the statement quoted Gilani as saying. Gilani said the Indian government “should realise that continuing (to be) impassive in negotiations between the two countries would only benefit the militants and terrorists who were holding the bilateral relations between the two countries hostage.”

Kerry, who was in New Delhi on Monday, welcomed the upcoming Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan and said there was “tremendous potential for utilising this opportunity for the good of the people of the two countries.” He expressed the U.S. government’s willingness for facilitating the resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue process in which “all the core issues, including Kashmir and water dispute, can be discussed and resolved by both sides peacefully,” according to the statement.

- Asian Tribune -