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‘Al-Qaida’ warns of jihad in India

A masked Al-Qaida militant with an AK-47 rifle as seen in the CD dropped at a news agency in Srinagar on Friday. — Tribune photo by Amin War

Srinagar/New Delhi, June 8
A video CD sent to the offices of a local news agency on Friday, apparently on behalf of the Al-Qaida terror group, declared holy war on India and named half-a-dozen local leaders on the hit-list.

The CD showed a lone masked man, who called himself Abu Abdul Rehman Al Ansari and claimed to be the chief of Al-Qaida in India.

“Al-Qaida today declares ‘jihad’ against India and Jammu and Kashmir shall be the gateway for this jihad,” the speaker said.

The police said it was still examining the video sent to the local Current News Service. It had previously denied the existence of Al-Qaida in Jammu and Kashmir.

“It is too early to comment on it. We are examining the CD,” a senior police officer said.

In New Delhi, the home ministry said it was investigating the CD. “We view such activities and threats as a desperate effort by terrorists and anti-national elements to try and create problems in the country and scare among the people,” a statement said.

“There is no need for any panic”. The man appearing on the CD speaks with an accent generally prevalent in Pakistan's Punjab province.

The home ministry said it was highly unlikely that Al Qaida could have engaged in the circulation of the CD and it was possible that Lashker-e-Toiba could be behind it to “boost the morale of its demoralising cadres”. In CD, the speaker railed against “so-called Hurriyat leaders and pro-India politicians in Kashmir.” — IANS, PTI

Ministry probing Qaida CD
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 8
Even as the Home Ministry has directed security agencies to verify the veracity of the Al-Qaida CD threatening massacres in India, it maintained that such activities and threats are reflective of desperation of terrorists and anti-national elements.

“This (release of CD) has come to our notice and we are conducting the necessary inquiries. We view such activities and threats as a desperate effort by terrorists and anti-national elements to create problems in the country,” a Home Ministry spokesperson said.