A suicide bomber attack on a CRPF convoy in Lethpora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14, 2019 had led to the death of 40 soldiers. (REUTERS)
In its chargesheet, the agency has alleged that the main accused Umer Farooq trained at the Sangin camp of the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The NIA says close to 1,000 Pakistani terrorists are trained at these al-Qaeda and Taliban camps.
- CNN-News18 New Delhi
- Last Updated: August 26, 2020, 11:51 PM IST
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has unearthed close links between Pakistani terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed and al-Qaeda as well as the Taliban during its investigation into the 2019 Pulwama attack. The NIA in its chargesheet has alleged that the main accused Umer Farooq trained at the Sangin camp of the Helmand province of Afghanistan. The agency says close to 1,000 Pakistani terrorists are trained at these al-Qaeda and Taliban camps.
“We have cited the United Nations report in our chargesheet which had spoken about hybrid camps of al-Qaeda, Taliban and Jaish in Afghanistan. The Haqqani network is also present at some of these locations,” an NIA officer said.
The 11th report of the UN’s analytical support and sanctions monitoring team referred to by the NIA in its chargesheet said, “According to Afghan interlocutors, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba facilitate the trafficking of terrorist fighters into Afghanistan who act as advisers, trainers and specialists in improvised explosive devices. Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed were stated to have approximately 800 and 200 fighters respectively co-located with Taliban forces in Muhmand Dara, Dur Baba and Shehrdar district of Nangarhar province.
Kunar and Nuristan province has also been mentioned in this UN report in connection with presence of Pakistani terrorists.
The NIA has also presented with the chargesheet photographs of Umer Farooq at the Afghanistan camps. One of the photographs shows Umer and another accused, Amar Alvi, clicking a selfie with a third terrorist who has not been identified. A second picture shows Umer Farooq posing with a gun which NIA says was at the al-Qaeda- Taliban camp. All these photographs and videos of Umer in Afghanistan were recovered by the NIA from the phone of Umer Farooq after his encounter.
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