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New Delhi
07 August 2009
Police in India's capital say two men they have arrested appear to have
been planning a terror strike within days. Authorities contend the duo received
training in militant camps in Pakistan.
Police say they
recovered a pair of AK-47 rifles, two grenades, ammunition, false
passports and other counterfeit identification from two men suspected
of belonging to the group Hizbul Mujahideen.
Authorities say
an intelligence tip related to a possible terror strike in the capital
ahead of Independence Day ceremonies August 15 led to the arrests
Thursday night in the parking lot of a shopping district in the old
part of the city.
Delhi Police special cell joint commissioner
P.N. Aggarwal tells reporters the suspects are from Kupwara, a district
under Indian control in divided Kashmir, and are being interrogated.
The
police official says the suspects, Javed Ahmed and Ashiq Ali, were
recruited on the Indian side of the border where they lived. Aggarwal
adds the two men initially were instructed in the jungles of Kashmir,
and, in August 2003, crossed the line of control into Pakistan, where
they received weapons training in a camp in Muzaffarabad.
Police in India announce such arrests from time to time, but convictions of such suspects are less frequent.
Hizbul
Mujahideen was formed in the Kashmir valley 20 years ago to fight for
the integration of the entire region into Pakistan. Kashmir has been a
divided and disputed territory since India and Pakistan gained
independence from the British in 1947.
India has blamed Pakistan for repeated attacks on its soil. The two countries have fought several wars since independence.
The
latest arrests come as a trial continues for the lone surviving suspect
in last November's terror attacks on India's commercial capital,
Mumbai. In court on Friday, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab told the court he
wanted to plead guilty to all charges. After a recess, he backtracked
and withdrew the statement.
Kasab, a Pakistani citizen, on
July 20 made a surprise confession in court to some of the charges, and
tried to get the judge to stop the trial and announce a verdict.
The
Mumbai attacks, blamed on 10 gunmen dispatched by the Pakistani
militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, left more than 160 people dead. Kasab
is on trial for murder and "waging war" against India.
Fears
of an attack on the Indian capital timed to coincide with Independence
Day, have led to hundreds of additional police and paramilitary forces
patrolling New Delhi's streets.
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