Pakistani military experts trained captured LeT terrorist Bahadur Ali: NIA

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday claimed that arrested Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Bahadur Ali was trained by military experts in Pakistan.

NIA said Bahadur Ali, who was arrested from Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, was directed to take advantage of the volatile situation in Jammu and Kashmir following the death of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani in a shootout. 

NIA Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar Singh said: "Arms, ammunition and equipment recovered from Ali and four other LeT terrorists killed on July 26 in Monibal (Jammu and Kashmir) established involvement of military experts." 

Giving example of sophisticated Icom communication hand sets recovered from the terrorists, the officer said the engineering modifications done on Icom RT sets (Made in Japan) to cover a whole range of very high frequency (VHF) requires a high degree of training in electronics. 

The officer also said that providing specific grid references for the route to be followed and use of global positioning system (GPS), and compass and topographical sheets during movement also establish that these LeT terrorists were trained by military experts. 

Grid reference is a map reference indicating a location in terms of a series of vertical and horizontal grid lines identified by numbers or letters. 

Ali informed the interrogators that he was constantly guided and directed by the LeT control centre Alpha-3 which was available on the prefixed frequency on the Icom hand sets being carried by the terrorists. 

"Ali`s statement and other evidences confirmed that Alpha-3 is a fixed communication centre established at a high altitude peak in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir which is operated with support from Pakistani armed forces," the officer said. 

The officer said tghat once the terrorists are inside Indian territory, Alpha-3 guides, directs and controls their operations. "Whenever required, Alpha-3 arranges tactical and material support through previously identified contacts."

Ali, revealed to investigators that Alpha-3 told him that LeT cadres had been successful in fuelling large-scale agitation in Kashmir after Eid following the death of Burhan Wani.

Following the July 8 death of Wani, a 22-year-old social media savvy Hizbul Mujahideen commander, Kashmir has witnessed a total lockdown in the Valley for more than a month now. 

Ali, resident of Zia-Bagha village in Lahore district of Pakistan, also informed interrogators that his group of terrorists was launched after being staged forward at their Dett (detachment) near the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.

He informed that this Dett is headed by a senior LeT member who provides arms and ammunition as well as other accessories like GPS, night vision devices, compass, grenade launchers, rubber maps, matrix sheets, food packets, dry ration, and medicines, among other things. 

Ali was launched from Mandakuli Dett which was dealt by an LeT commander Abu Haider. 

Singh said the captured terrorist underwent three mandated training processes organised by LeT. He was recruited in Jamaat-ud-Dawa by a close aide of the terror outfit`s chief Hafiz Sayeed in 2008-2009 at the age of 13-14 years and subsequently radicalised by LeT.

The NIA has said that this is an ongoing investigation to gather details about the role of LeT in the current situation in Kashmir.