Al-Qaeda call traced to Srinagar PCO

Police have traced the PCO from where a man claming to be Al Qaeda spokesperson Abu-al-Hadeed had phoned news agency.

Police in Jammu and Kashmir have traced the PCO booth from where a man claming to be Al Qaeda spokesperson Abu-al-Hadeed had phoned a local news agency in Srinagar to declare that the organisation had set up its unit in the state.

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Preliminary investigations indicate that the man was a Kashmiri.

"The investigations have revealed that the tone and tenor of the caller was typically Kashmiri, unlike some others who use threatening tones while talking to media," said a senior official.

The Current News Service in Srinagar had on Thursday received the phone call and a faxed statement announcing the formation of Al Qaeda's Jammu and Kashmir unit.

The statement "appreciated recent serial bombings in Mumbai and expressed pleasure at the serial blasts".

The Public Call Office is in Srinagar's downtown Malaratha locality. Its owner, Hafizullah Donga, is being questioned but he has so far not been able to say anything concrete about the caller.

"He has been maintaining that he cannot remember as so many callers come and go," the official said, adding that the caller could not have acted on his own.

The police are hopeful of getting to the truth in the next few days.

"We are not taking anything lightly. Each and every aspect of it is under scrutiny," the official said.