The LeT operative, Abu Jundal, told a joint multi-agency team during sustained questioning that since Lashkar did not want to leave anything to chance for the Mumbai terror attack, it decided to rope in Al Qaeda for training.
The LeT felt that hardcore Al Qaeda terrorists could provide foolproof 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 Qaeda’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 finalising the documents for the extradition of Fasih Mahmood following the confirmation of his arrest in Saudi Arabia. Fasih is wanted in the blast at Chinaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru 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 cases in India. India has also impressed upon Saudi Arabia the urgent need for Fasih’s legal custody to conclude investigations into these cases.