Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba behind Amarnath terror attack: J&K police
1 min read . Updated: 06 Aug 2017, 07:49 PM IST
PremiumThe Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday arrested three people who conspired with Lashkar-e-Taiba to carry out the Amarnath Yatra terror attack
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police on Sunday said Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was responsible for last month’s Amarnath Yatra terror attack.
J&K police said an investigation had concluded that LeT and Kashmiri accomplices were behind the 10 July attack that saw militants open fire on a bus carrying Amarnath Yatra pilgrims.
“Lashkar was involved and the accused have been identified," K&K police Inspector General Muneer Ahmed Khan told reporters in Anantnag district.
“Once the investigation was started, it was revealed that... a Pakistani militant of Lashkar along with two other militants and one local Kashmiri Lashkar militant carried out the attack."
Three others who provided logistical support to the militants, including hiding places and vehicles, had been arrested.
The Amarnath Yatra attack was the worst such incident in Jammu and Kashmir since 2000, when gunmen fired on a group of pilgrims and killed 32 people, including two police officers.
Khan said the militants had carefully plotted to attack any police or tourist vehicle that crossed their path on the evening of the assault.
“They had kept separate code words for tourist and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) vehicles... It was purely an act of terrorism carried out with an aim to spread fear," he said.
LeT has been blamed for a string of deadly attacks inside India, most notably the Mumbai carnage in November 2008 when heavily armed gunmen battled commandos on the streets of the financial capital.
It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city and New Delhi has long said there is evidence that “official agencies" in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack.
Islamabad denies the charge.
Rebel groups, including LeT, have for decades fought Indian troops and police deployed in Kashmir, demanding independence or a merger of Kashmir with Pakistan.
