Pak terrorist tasked to set up base in Kashmir

Officials said Ahmed had joined LeT in 2012 and had earlier made two attempts to enter Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) but failed because of heavy deployment of Army. Ahmed, who has studied till Class 4, told his interrogators that he was a Baloch settled in Muzzafargarh of Punjab province in South West Pakistan, the officials said. 

The terrorist, who was captured after a two-day operation in which his four associates were killed, had also worked with Jamaat-ul-Dawa, which is headed by Hafiz Saeed, the chief of LeT and mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attacks, the officials said. Ahmed, aged 22, has undergone all the three kinds of training in terrorism -- 'Daura-e-Aam', 'Daura-e-Khas' and 'Daura-e-<g data-gr-id="25">Sufa</g>', they said.

In Daura-e-Aam, the cadres of the terror outfit are given basic training in small arms and grenade-throwing for 21 days which is followed by a three-month specialised training, known as Daura-e-Khas in which they are taught handling of AK <g data-gr-id="22">riles</g>, rocket launchers, making of Improvised Explosive Devices and LMGs. The third kind of training, known as Daura-e-<g data-gr-id="18">Sufa</g>, involves motivating and brainwashing youth for terror acts.

Ahmed is believed to have said that the main objective of sending him and others here was to enable LeT re-establish its base in Rafiabad area in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. LeT's influence in Rafiabad has seen a decline since Najjar's rift with Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin and formed his own dissident group <g data-gr-id="24">sometime</g> back.