New jihadist group claims responsibility for Pune attack

Even as Maharashtra police investigators said little progress was made in identifying the perpetrators of Saturday’s bombing of the German Bakery in Pune, an unknown Pakistan-based jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the attack that claimed 10 lives.

Identifying himself as a spokesperson on behalf of a group calling itself the Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi, an individual using the code-name ‘Abu Jindal’ said the bombing was carried out because of India’s “refusal” to discuss the Kashmir issue in the coming talks with Pakistan.

‘Abu Jindal’ said he was calling from Miramshah in North Waziristan, and the telephone number used to make the call carried an area code common to the Waziristan tribal area and Bannu, the adjoining district in the North-West Frontier Province. When The Hindu tried calling back, though, a recorded voice message said the number was temporarily not in use.

No past communiqué was issued by the Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi, and terrorism experts in New Delhi told The Hindu that no such group was known to exist.

However, the caller — who appeared to be educated — said the group had split from the Lashkar-e-Taiba because it took orders from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

Earlier, al-Qaeda affiliated jihadist leader Illyas Kashmiri was reported to have sent an e-mail to a Pakistani journalist, claiming responsibility for the attack.

Indian intelligence sources said the claims appeared intended to deflect attention from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is emerging as the principal suspect for the attack. In the wake of the Lashkar’s 2008 attack on Mumbai, Pakistan had come under intense pressure to dismantle the terrorist group as well as its political-religious organisation, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. It has, however, rejected international calls for such action. Despite official claims, Maharashtra police sources say there is little evidence as yet to link the bombing of the German Bakery with any perpetrator.

Unknown Pakistani group claims responsibility for Pune blast

An unknown group calling itself the Laskhar-e-Taiba Al Alami claimed on Tuesday it was behind Saturday’s bomb attack in Pune that killed nine people.

A person who identified himself as Abu Jindal called The Hindu here, described himself as the spokesman of the LeT Al Alami (international), and claimed the group had carried out the attack because of what he said was India’s “refusal” to discuss Kashmir in the forthcoming talks with Pakistan.

The telephone number that showed up on the caller identity carried an area code common to the Waziristan tribal area and Bannu, the adjoining district in the North-West Frontier Province.

When this correspondent tried calling back the number, a recorded voice message said the number was temporarily not in use.

Kashmir jihadists do not believe in India-Pakistan talks on Kashmir and have long said their aim is to seize the State by force from India in order to “liberate” it, which makes the caller’s statement intriguing and difficult to reconcile with the standard jihadist line.

The caller also gave India’s “alliance” with America as another reason for the attack. Asked if there were any other reasons, he said: “These are the only two reasons”.

“Joh bhi America ka ittehad hoga, hum uskey khilaf jang ladengey, chahey who India ho ya Pakistan (we will wage war against any ally of America, whether it is India or Pakistan).”

He said the group had split from the Laskhar-e-Taiba because it took orders from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence.

The caller sounded like an educated boy in his late teens or early 20s. He said he was calling from Miramshah in North Waziristan and declined to divulge the name of the group’s leader. Asked how the group had carried out the Pune attack, he said it had its “sources” in India and had activated them to carry out the attack.