'Al-Qaeda could have sleeper cells in India'

The army says the global terror network is outsouring terrorism and "in Pakistan, it is hand-in-glove with Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba" though no active Qaeda links have been found so far in J&K.

The army on Saturday said global terror network Al-Qaeda could have "sleeper cells" in India, possibly in Jammu and Kashmir.

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"Al-Qaeda has sleeper cells everywhere across the world so we cannot rule out their possibility in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir," Northern Command General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Lt Gen HS Panag told reporters here.

He said it was outsouring terrorism and "in Pakistan, it is hand-in-glove with Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashker-e-Taiba" though no active Qaeda links have been found so far in J&K.

Panag said militancy and infiltration had come down but 1200-1500 militants were operating in the state and they had adopted "a wait-and-watch strategy" for the time being.