LeT group was tasked to establish base in Rafiabad

Fayaz Bukhari

SRINAGAR, Aug 28: The captured Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant, Sajjad Ahmad alias Abu Ubaidulla, of Pakistan who was today remanded to 5 days police custody by a local court in Sopore in North Kashmir has said that his group was tasked to establish base in Rafiabad forests.
Sajjad, son of Faiz Bakhsh resident of village Chak district Muzaffargarh Punjab was captured yesterday after his four associates – Talha Bhai, Usman, Abu Ketal and Abu Shoib – were gunned down by Army and police in an operation in North Kashmir Rafiabad forests.
Sajjad revealed during his questioning that the group was sent to establish LeT base in Watergam forests in Rafiabad Sopore. “We were told that more militants from Pakistan will join the group once base is established. They were given a local contact of an Over Ground Worker of LeT in Rafiabad who was to assist them. They were asked to pay for the food and other essentials wherever they get it, not to remain at one place for long and prepare locals for Jehad. And make a hideout in Rafiabad forests where Army conducts operations at times”, he has revealed.
Speaking Balochi, Punjabi and Urdu, Sajjad a 4th standard school dropout comes from a poor family have three brothers and one sister. His one brother is a rickshaw puller and another conductor.
The militant who was questioned by various agencies since his capture including Army, Police, Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analyses Wing (RAW) where he has given detailed account of LeT training camps and their designs.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Team headed by its Inspector General, Mukesh Singh also arrived this afternoon in Srinagar to question Sajjad. They have also questioned Sajjad.
The LeT militant revealed that he has done 3 months training, Daura-e-Aam, at Maneshra in 2012. There were 16 trainees with him at the camp. It was followed by 21 days training at Murdke, Daura-e-Safa in the same year. It may be mentioned here that Jamiatul Dawa, headed by Hafiz Sayeed, has its headquarters in Murdke. He has done 2 months special training (Daura Khas) at Aqsa camp near Shawam Nallah in Muzaffarabad PoK in 2013. He informed his interrogators that there were 43 more LeT men who were being trained at Aqsa camp.
Sajjad revealed that before infiltration, he received one month training, Daura Lashkar, at Muzaffarabad in 2015. He said that Hafiz Sayeed came to the camp at Muzaffarabad and addressed the trainees. He gave lecture on Jehad.
The captured LeT man said that they conducted recee of the LoC, a month back and started from Chamb training camp in PoK on August 14 and 15 for infiltrating into Kashmir. “He had made an infiltration attempt last year but couldn’t succeed due to snow”, sources said.
Sajjad revealed that the group crossed the LoC on August 18.  They reached Mayan village on August 20 and Lacchipora on August 21. “They lost track in the forests and went towards village and on August 22, two locals met them and they snatched their cell phones and thrashed them. The duo informed police and Army about their presence in the forests and after which a massive operation was launched which lasted for 4 days in which his four associates were killed and he was captured”, sources said.
The captured LeT man revealed that there are seven training camps across the LoC in PoK.  One at Lippa valley is headed by Anas, second at Dhumail is headed by Abu Kafa, third at Kel is headed by Mohammad Raza, fourth at Athmuqam is headed by Saad Bhai, fifth at Chamb is headed by Hammar Bhai, sixth at Kahuta is headed by Abu Saad and seventh at Barnala is headed by Okasha Bhai.
Sajjad revealed that Alaksa training camp has 6000 to 8000 recruits. He made a startling revelation to the agencies that over the years LeT has trained over 3 lakh youth in Pakistan for Jehadi activities.
The LeT militant said that after Hafiz Sayeed, Zakir Rahman alias Chaha is running LeT. He has two launching commanders of Huzafa Bakerwal for Kashmir valley and Haji Khalid for Jammu with Sehran Bhai head of communications.
The revelation that Jammu has a separate launching commander for LeT in PoK confirmed the revelations made by Naved who was captured in Udhampur early this month. Naved had told his interrogators that they were told to target security forces in Udhampur to make Jammu unsafe as well.
Sajjad revealed that the training camps are like Army training camps, where all types of training is being imparted to the LeT militants. He revealed that they were trained in handling all types of weapons, conducting ambushes, Fidayeen and IED blasts.
The LeT man revealed that Al-Badar Mujahideen which had been fighting in Afghanistan earlier, has camps near LoC but their cadres don’t infiltrate. They have been tasked to carry out attacks near the LoC and border on Army and BSF.
The group was using Y-SMS for communication. In this a radio set is attached to mobile phone (without sim card) and messages are being sent across. The security forces have sent the equipment for analyses as it is for the first time that Y-SMS is being used by militants.

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