Masood Azhar's guard among those killed

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW, APRIL 18. The three Pakistani terrorists who were shot dead by the Uttar Pradesh police today were trained by the Jaish- e-Mohammed in Afghanistan, according to the Director- General of Police, Mr. M.C. Dwivedi. They were killed when on their way to Faizabad, he said.

Mr. Dwivedi identified the terrorists as Salim (alias Babar alias Ujaifa) belonging to Kazipatti, district Shikarpur in Shakker division of Sindh province; Rashid (alias Raizan), hailing from School Road, Sharif Park, Beghampura, Lahore; and Sajjad (alias Talha), resident of Ghantaghar locality, Shakker town, Sindh.

The weapons seized from them included AK-56 and AK-47 rifles, a carbine, a 9-mm pistol, grenade-launchers, magazines, and grenades that had been made available to the Pakistan Army by Austria. Explosive devices with detonators, walkie-talkie sets mobile sets and sim cards were also recovered from them.

(A PTI report quoted Mr. Dwivedi as saying, besides planning to destroy the makeshift Ram temple at Ayodhya, the militants wanted to eliminate some very important political leaders in the State and free militants lodged in Tihar, Mumbai and Jammu jails.)

A letter recovered from the terrorists indicated that they were associated with the Jaish-e-Mohammed, an organisation with bases in Afghanistan and Pakistan, headed by Maulana Masood Azhar. Rashid alias Pappu, one of the three killed terrorists, had been the personal guard of Masood Azhar who was released by New Delhi in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane last year. He had been involved in encounters with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir four times in the past.

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