26/11 terrorists were trained by hardcore Al Qaeda militants, reveals Jundal

[1]

In what might explain the increased American interest in arrested terrorist Abu Jundal, he made the startling disclosure to interrogators recently that the 26/11 terrorists were trained by hardcore Al Qaeda militants at a Lashkar-e-Tayyaba camp near the Pakistan-Iran border.

Jundal, the highest-ranking Indian commander of LeT, claimed there was a 'great degree of coordination now between Lashkar, Al Qaeda and even the Taliban'. These disclosures are part of Jundal’s interrogation report, details of which have been accessed by this newspaper.

A top government functionary said that since the United States now views Lashkar to be as much of a threat as the Taliban and Al Qaeda, it has been keeping close tabs on all developments related to Jundal. "The US agencies are very keen to know if Jundal can provide more details about Al Qaeda and the Taliban," the official added.

The external affairs and home ministries are, meanwhile, busy finalising documents to secure the extradition of Mohammed Fasih, whose arrest in Saudi Arabia has been confirmed. Fasih is wanted for the Chinaswamy Stadium blast in Bengaluru and the Jama Masjid attack in Delhi. Sources said the government will try to get the Saudis to deport Fasih even faster than Jundal.

The LeT operative told a joint multi agency team during sustained questioning that since Lashkar did not want to leave anything to chances for the Mumbai terror attack it decided to rope in Al Qaida for training. The LeT felt that hardcore Al Qaida terrorists could provide foolroof training to the module used to attack Mumbai.

Initially, sources said, there were 22 to 25 militants in the group that was to attack Mumbai. But since Al Qaida’s training was so intense that more than half of them dropped out and only 10 were selected for the final onslaught.

"Had all the 25 militants completed the training and made it to Mumbai the carnage would have been much worse," a senior investigating official said. Finally, a module of 10 terrorist attacked Mumbai in what is viewed as the worst terror strike in independent India.

Jundal claims that though he did visit Lashkar’s training facility at the Pakistan-Iran border but he was not present during the time that the Mumbai module was undergoing training there. Indian investigating agencies asked Jundal to identify the exact location of this camp with help of Google map but Jundal failed to do so, sources added.

Meanwhile, both the Ministries of External Affairs and Home are finalizing the documents for the extradition of Mohd Fasih following the confirmation of his arrest in Saudi Arabia. Fasih is wanted in the blast at Chinaswamy Stadium at Bangalore and the Jama Masjid attack. Sources said the Government will try and deport Fasih much like Jundal as it is much faster.

The Indian Embassy in Riyadh is in constant touch with the Saudi Justice Ministry giving them details about Fasih’s involvement in terror related cases in India. India’s has also impressed upon Saudi Arabia the urgent need for Fasih’s legal custody to conclude investigations into these cases.