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Udhampur Terrorist Muhammad Naveed Ran Away From Home, Trained In Same Camp As Ajmal Kasab

Udhampur Terrorist Trained In Same Camp As Ajmal Kasab
Indian paramilitary soldiers stand near the body of a suspected rebel after a gunbattle on the Jammu- Srinagar highway at Narsoo Nallah, near Udhampur, India, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. Two paramilitary soldiers and one suspected rebel were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir Wednesday after a convoy of paramilitary troops was ambushed in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
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Indian paramilitary soldiers stand near the body of a suspected rebel after a gunbattle on the Jammu- Srinagar highway at Narsoo Nallah, near Udhampur, India, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. Two paramilitary soldiers and one suspected rebel were killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir Wednesday after a convoy of paramilitary troops was ambushed in the troubled region, police said. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Although Pakistan has rejected India's charge that Muhammad Naveed, the alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist who launched a terror attack in Udhampur this week, was of Pakistani-origin, intelligence officials have reportedly told the Indian Express that the captured militant had undergone three months of combat training at the Markaz Taiba camp in Mansehra -- the same facility where Ajmal Kasab had prepared himself before launching a deadly attack on Mumbai in 2008.

Naveed was reportedly sent across the Line of Control this April and was to serve with LeT's South Kashmir commander who uses the code name Qasim Khan, the IE report quoted sources as saying.

Yesterday, a Pakistan-based man who identified himself as the father of Naveed, told reporters from Hindustan Times that the Lashkar was after their family.

"I'll be killed. The Lashkar is after us and the fauj (army) is after us," Mohammad Yakub said over phone from Faisalabad in Pakistan, according to HT. Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) is one of the largest active terror organisations based out of Pakistan, and accused of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

He was contacted on a phone number given to the interrogators by Naveed, who was captured alive by villagers after the attack on a BSF convoy near Udhampur. Identifying himself as the "unfortunate father" of the attacker, Yakub said "you are calling from India. We'll be killed. They (LeT) probably wanted him dead and not caught alive. Please spare him."

The call was made at 1:22 PM and lasted a minute and 20 seconds before a frightened Yakub hung up. The phone has been switched off since then, HT reported.

The IE report stated that Naveed, born in 1995, belonged to a landless family that made its living ploughing fields and working on construction projects. The report quoted unnamed sources as saying that he failed his fifth class examinations at a local school, did odd jobs around the area and failed to get regular employment. He subsequently ran away from home. He is the youngest of four children and his oldest brother, Muhammad Nabil, worked at the Government College University in Faisalabad.

After Udhampur, Gurdaspur attacks, Pakistan may crackdown on Hafiz Saeed, says @kishkindhahttp://t.co/TKE6tG8fwbpic.twitter.com/iswog5P9qF

— Firstpost (@firstpost) August 7, 2015

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir police have said in its preliminary report submitted to Udhampur District Magistrate Shahid Iqbal Choudhary that the terrorists who attacked in Udhampur were backed by Pakistan's Inter-Serivces Intelligence (ISI) and sent to wage war against India, PTI reported.

"During the course of preliminary investigation, it transpired that the terrorists involved in the attack are trained 'fidayeens' and backed by Pakistan's ISI in order to wage war against the government of India," it said.

Two BSF personnel and one terrorist were killed in the attack. Meanwhile, BSF Inspector General (Jammu Frontier) Rakesh Sharma said a probe is underway to ascertain the route that the terrorists had taken while crossing over into India.

"It is a matter of investigation. Interrogation is being done by J&K Police. I cannot definitely say anything on that," he said when asked about the route used by the terrorists to infiltrate from Pakistan.

'30 minutes of terror': Survivors recount attack in #Udhampurhttp://t.co/DAhDtI4eTQpic.twitter.com/ySw0XRrGRL

— NDTV (@ndtv) August 6, 2015

Pakistan maintained that India needed to back up the accusation of Islamabad's involvement with proof.

"We have also seen media reports and I will not offer any comment on that issue. We expect the Indian authorities to share information with us on the claims that are being made in the media," Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Syed Qazi Khalilullah said on the arrest of the terrorist in India.

"We have said many a times that making immediate accusations on Pakistan is not correct. These things should be based on facts. We expect that whenever Pakistan is being accused of something, it will be accompanied with correct evidence," he said.

Khalilullah said that the Indian claim was baseless. "We have repeatedly asked India to refrain from accusations."

Separately, a Pakistan government source was quoted by the Express Tribune as saying, "National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) record shows Indian claims of an arrested person, Usman Khan (Mohammed Naved Yakub), originating from Pakistan are totally baseless."

Pakistan had always denied Kasab belonged to it and refused to accept his body after he was hanged in 2012 after trial under due process of law.

Armed with an AK assault rifles, Naveed, a resident of Ghulam Mustafabad area in Faislabad town of Pakistan, along with another terrorist Noman alias Momin, fired at a BSF convoy on the highway at Simroli. BSF jawans retaliated killing Noman while Naved was later captured alive.

The National Investigation Agency has taken over the case. A team of NIA, a central probe agency created after the 2008 Mumbai attack, headed by Inspector General Sanjeev Kumar Singh, has been camping in Jammu since yesterday and has visited the site of the encounter, official sources said. Singh has been dealing with several terror related cases including the Burdhwan blast of West Bengal. (With inputs from agencies)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.