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Ayodhya attack: 2 held in Jammu
The terrorists involved in the July 5 attack were Pak-based, police said.
Ten days after the sensational terror attack at the makeshift temple complex in Ayodhya, police on Friday said all the five Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists invloved had come from Pakistan and their two accomplices who had provided logistical support have been arrested in Jammu region.
Addressing a press conference, J&K Director General of Police Gopal Sharma said police also recovered a Tata Sumo vehicle, which had been modified to conceal and transport five AK-47 rifles and ammunition to Panipat in Haryana.
"We are questioning the two arrested men on whether or not the same arms and ammunition were used by the five suicide attackers during the Ayodhya attack," Sharma said.
He said the two men identified as Mohammad Naseem and Asif Iqbal alias Farooq were picked up from Mendhar tehsil in Poonch district of Jammu region.
According to Sharma, Mohammad Naseem had been motivated by a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander to purchase a mobile phone set, which was passed on to another arrested person Asif Iqbal.
"The mobile set was recovered by the Uttar Pradesh police from the Ayodhya encounter site and after investigation it was found that some calls had been made by the attackers through this set to Mendhar," Sharma said.
He said Asif had been contacted by two guerrillas of the LeT in Poonch who motivated him to work for the outfit.
"They also gave him Rs 100,000. He subsequently visited Srinagar in the third week of May 2005 where he met another LeT terrorist at whose instance he purchased a TATA Sumo vehicle.
"After purchasing the vehicle, Asif got it modified to conceal and transport five AK-47 rifles and ammunition to Panipat in Haryana," Sharma explained.
Further interrogation was continuing and efforts were on to apprehend other terrorists involved in the conspiracy, he said.
Earlier reports had said five suspected terrorists alleged to have helped the group, which attacked the disputed Babri Mosque-Ramjanmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya earlier this month, were arrested.
On July 5, armed terrorists had stormed into the heavily barricaded complex in Ayodhya. The attack was foiled after a gunfight that left all of them dead. The driver of the jeep that took them to Ayodhya from Faizabad has been arrested.
The police chief also disclosed that police in Anantnag had unearthed a module of the Hizbul Mujahideen involved in various incidents, including the killings of the brother of Minister of State for Home Abdul Rahman Veeri and Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed's nephew.
