Date:16/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/16/stories/2008021660321200.htm

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IISc. attack-linked terrorists killed

Praveen Swami

Lashkar operatives were deputies of commander who supplied weapons for Bangalore, Rampur strikes

— Photo: NISSAR AHMAD

Jammu and Kashmir policemen stand near the body of a militant in a Pulwama village on Friday.

NEW DELHI: Two members of a Lashkar-e-Taiba unit which supplied the weapons used to attack the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) in Bangalore were killed in a shootout in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.

Abdul Rehman, the Lashkar’s second-in-command for the south Kashmir region, as well as a second operative so far identified only by the code-name ‘Muslim Bhai,’ were shot dead by the Jammu and Kashmir police and troops of the 55 Rashtriya Rifles near the village of Aglar. Based on communications intelligence intercepts, the two men are thought to be Pakistan nationals.

Both men were deputies of the Lashkar’s overall commander for southern Kashmir, who is known only by the code-names ‘Sadaaq’ and ‘Atif’, the main investigators believe despatched the assault rifles used to execute the 2005 strike on a conference at the Indian Institute of Science, as well as a New Year’s day assault on a Central Reserve Police Force training camp in Rampur.

Mohammad Sabahuddin, a one-time resident of Madhubani in Bihar who underwent three years advanced training at Lashkar-e-Taiba-run facilities in Pakistan before returning to India to organise the December, 2005 attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, is believed to have collected the weapon used in the attack from ‘Sadaaq.’

Sahabuddin’s associate, Mohammad Sharif, who managed the Lashkar cell’s operations in Uttar Pradesh, also sourced the assault rifles used for the Rampur attack from ‘Sadaaq.’ As in the case of the Bangalore strike, Lashkar operatives travelled from Pakistan through Nepal to execute the attacks once the local Lashkar cell in Rampur had the weapons in place.

“We are working to establish if either men had a direct role in shipping the weapons used in the Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka attacks to Lashkar modules there,” Pulwama Senior Superintendent of Police Nitish Kumar told The Hindu.