04-06-2006, 12:27 AM
Pioneer.com
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The terrorists have been identified as Mehboob Ali Mandal of Murshidabad in West Bengal, Syed Shoaib Hassan alias Hamza of Rajajipuram in Lucknow, Mohammed Rizwan Siddiqui of Jyotiba Phule Nagar near Aligarh, Farhan of Saadatganj in Lucknow and Mohammed Saad Ali alias Babbu alias Shaad of Jyotiba Phule Nagar.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>All are India Muslims.</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->An STF official said all five were working as agents of HuJAI and used to report to Imam Waliullah, the designated pointperson for Uttar Pradesh. Imam Waliullah, he said, used to recruit youth in the name of jihad and send them to Bangladesh and Pakistan for training in terrorism.
The five men arrested on Wednesday are believed to be part of a 24-member group sent for training in terrorism in June 2004. They were first trained under the tutelage of HuJAI chief Asad Ullah and later sent to a terror camp near Karachi, Pakistan. They returned to India after 28 days and were asked to await instructions.
The STF official said Imam Waliullah was told at a religious function at Muaiama in Allahabad on January 23-24 that some Bangladeshi youth would be sent for a "mission" which he had to coordinate.
On March 3, <b>HuJAI area commander Basheer alias Basheerudeen, Mustafeez and Zakariya, who had studied with Imam Waliullah at Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband, reached his house in Phoolpur along with ammonium nitrate, batteries, wires, detonators</b>, etc that were later used for putting together the Varanasi bombs.
On March 4, Mustafeez and Zakariya stayed back at Abdulla Mosque near Allahabad railway station, while Imam Waliullah and Basheer went to Varanasi to inspect the spots where they later planted the bombs and returned the same night.
Over the next two days, the three Bangladeshi operatives moved around Allahabad and procured three pressure cookers and crafted the lethal bombs that were to leave behind a trail of blood and flesh in Varanasi.
On March 7, they took Bundelkhand Express from Phoolpur to reach Varanasi. Next, they planted the bombs at Sankat Mochan Temple, Cantonment Railway Station and Godaulia near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. While the first two bombs triggered mass destruction and loss of lives, the third, at Godaulia, was defused in time.
<b>With their mission accomplished, the Bangladeshis vanished and even Imam Waliullah lost contact with them. The STF is trying to track them down.</b>
Imam Waliullah has been arrested in the past for his jihadi linkages. He and his two brothers were arrested in 2001 and Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and explosives were seized from the imam's Phoolpur house after three Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, whom he had harboured, were gunned down by the STF in Lucknow. <b>He was in jail for eight months before procuring bail and walking away to freedom to plot his next strike.</b>
It is believed that after his release from jail on bail, Imam Waliullah contacted Basheer, 'area commander' of HuJAI, and met HuJAI 'commander' Asad Ullah in Dhaka, who made him the 'area commander' of Uttar Pradesh. Part of the imam's task was to recruit young men and send them for jihadi training in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The terrorists have been identified as Mehboob Ali Mandal of Murshidabad in West Bengal, Syed Shoaib Hassan alias Hamza of Rajajipuram in Lucknow, Mohammed Rizwan Siddiqui of Jyotiba Phule Nagar near Aligarh, Farhan of Saadatganj in Lucknow and Mohammed Saad Ali alias Babbu alias Shaad of Jyotiba Phule Nagar.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<b>All are India Muslims.</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->An STF official said all five were working as agents of HuJAI and used to report to Imam Waliullah, the designated pointperson for Uttar Pradesh. Imam Waliullah, he said, used to recruit youth in the name of jihad and send them to Bangladesh and Pakistan for training in terrorism.
The five men arrested on Wednesday are believed to be part of a 24-member group sent for training in terrorism in June 2004. They were first trained under the tutelage of HuJAI chief Asad Ullah and later sent to a terror camp near Karachi, Pakistan. They returned to India after 28 days and were asked to await instructions.
The STF official said Imam Waliullah was told at a religious function at Muaiama in Allahabad on January 23-24 that some Bangladeshi youth would be sent for a "mission" which he had to coordinate.
On March 3, <b>HuJAI area commander Basheer alias Basheerudeen, Mustafeez and Zakariya, who had studied with Imam Waliullah at Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband, reached his house in Phoolpur along with ammonium nitrate, batteries, wires, detonators</b>, etc that were later used for putting together the Varanasi bombs.
On March 4, Mustafeez and Zakariya stayed back at Abdulla Mosque near Allahabad railway station, while Imam Waliullah and Basheer went to Varanasi to inspect the spots where they later planted the bombs and returned the same night.
Over the next two days, the three Bangladeshi operatives moved around Allahabad and procured three pressure cookers and crafted the lethal bombs that were to leave behind a trail of blood and flesh in Varanasi.
On March 7, they took Bundelkhand Express from Phoolpur to reach Varanasi. Next, they planted the bombs at Sankat Mochan Temple, Cantonment Railway Station and Godaulia near the Kashi Vishwanath Temple. While the first two bombs triggered mass destruction and loss of lives, the third, at Godaulia, was defused in time.
<b>With their mission accomplished, the Bangladeshis vanished and even Imam Waliullah lost contact with them. The STF is trying to track them down.</b>
Imam Waliullah has been arrested in the past for his jihadi linkages. He and his two brothers were arrested in 2001 and Kalashnikov rifles, grenades and explosives were seized from the imam's Phoolpur house after three Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists, whom he had harboured, were gunned down by the STF in Lucknow. <b>He was in jail for eight months before procuring bail and walking away to freedom to plot his next strike.</b>
It is believed that after his release from jail on bail, Imam Waliullah contacted Basheer, 'area commander' of HuJAI, and met HuJAI 'commander' Asad Ullah in Dhaka, who made him the 'area commander' of Uttar Pradesh. Part of the imam's task was to recruit young men and send them for jihadi training in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
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