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| Mumbai mastermind ‘arrested’ in PoK | | | AGENCIES
ISLAMABAD, DEC 8: Lashker-e-Toiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhwi, accused of masterminding the Mumbai terror attacks, is among over 20 members of the group arrested by Pakistani security forces during a crackdown in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The security forces, including the army, on Sunday launched a secretive crackdown on activists of the LeT and its front organisation Jamaat-ud-Dawah in PoK and other part of the country. Helicopters were used in the operation in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK.
Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone terrorist captured by Indian authorities after the Mumbai attacks, had named Lakhwi as one of the Lashker commanders who had planned the terrorist strike.
Lakhwi was among more than 20 members of the LeT arrested in Muzaffarabad during a major army operation on a camp used by the outlawed group, the Dawn newspaper quoted sources as saying.
Other sources had told PTI late last night that a militant named Lakhwi had been taken into custody but it could not then be independently confirmed if he was the same terrorist linked to the Mumbai attacks.
There was no immediate official word on the crackdown. The Dawn said there were reports that similar actions were planned in some cities and towns of Punjab, a province where the LeT and the Jamaat have a significant presence.
Iman, the gunman captured in Mumbai, hails from a village in Okara district of Punjab.
Pakistan is under intense international pressure, including from the US, to take action against the LeT for its involvement in the Mumbai attacks. The Let was founded by militant ideologue Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who formed the Jamaat soon after the Lashker was banned in 2001.
Pakistani police and civil administration officials in Muzaffarabad told reporters they did not know what was happening.
Local residents said they had seen army personnel taking control of an area along Shawai Nullah, five kilometres northwest of Muzaffarabad, where the LeT possesses a large camp with several buildings.
The troops sealed off the area after they launched their operation.
"I saw an army helicopter hovering over the area and around 5 pm I heard two or three loud explosions," a woman who lives in the area told Dawn. Another person said the helicopter might have been used to airlift persons detained or injured during the operation.
There were also unconfirmed reports of an exchange of fire. Ambulances from hospitals in Muzaffarabad were called to the area by troops but witnesses said they returned without any persons inside.
In Chehla Bandi area of PoK, soldiers checked vehicles bound for the Neelum Valley.
There was also no word from the usually active Jamaat spokesmen. Some journalists who contacted a Jamaat spokesman were told that the organisation would issue a statement only after Pakistani authorities officially commented on the matter.
Pakistan banned the LeT after it was blamed for the December 2001 attack on India's parliament. Pakistan has also put the Jamaat-ud-Dawah on a terrorism watch-list. |
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