Bahadur Ali . . . captured in north Kashmir.
New Delhi: A suspected militant of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) in custody of the National Investigation Agency had been trained by Pakistan’s army, the agency’s head said on Wednesday.
NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar told the press: “LET terrorist and Pakistani national Bahadur Ali, who was captured recently in north Kashmir, was regularly guided by the control room of terrorist groups in PoK with the help of Pakistani forces”.
Ali crossed over into India in June with two other militants, the NIA said.
“Arms and ammunition training given to Ali shows the involvement of military experts,” Kumar said.
Kumar claimed that Ali told them during questioning that there were a few army officers in plain clothes who checked their “preparedness” against a checklist.
He claimed that Ali had said that the LET had 30-50 trainees from various parts of the country, even from Afghanistan, at its various training camps.
The NIA is also investigating the LET’s role in the ongoing unrest in Kashmir in which 54 people have been killed. The unrest was sparked by Indian security forces’ killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. Thousands have been injured in the violent protests.
Ali was arrested on July 25 after a shootout.