25 Jan 2009,
NEW DELHI: In an exclusive interview to Times Now, MoS External Affairs Anand Sharma on Sunday drew link between the encounter at Noida, in which two alleged Pakistani terrorists were gunned down, to the terror camps operating in Pakistan. ( Watch )
"Terror groups operating in Pakistan are trying to destabilize India," Anand Sharma told Times Now.
"Noida encounter shows that terror groups are still active in Pakistan, though we have repeatedly told Pakistan to dismantle terror infrastructure," the channel quoted Sharma as saying.
Earlier, averting a major terror attack apparently planned to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi, the UP ATS and Noida police in a pre-dawn swoop, shot dead two Pakistani terrorists following an ambush in Noida's sector 97 area on Sunday. An ATS sleuth suffered a gunshot wound during the exchange of fire.
Additional director general of police (ADGP) Brij Lal, briefing newsmen in Lucknow said that the ATS was working on a specific terror module that was believed to be active germinating in Western UP for nearly a month and a half now. "While pursuing this module, we got a specific lead about the movement of two suspects in a Maruti car from Lalkuan in Gaziabad. The car was tipped to be moving towards Delhi," Brij Lal said.
The ATS team started screening vehicles passing from the Amity police outpost towards Delhi around 2:15 am when they saw a Maruti 800 trying to steer clear of the police check. As the ATS commandoes tried to intercept the car, it took an adjacent road and tried to escape. As the exchange of fire continued from the two sides, the ATS commandos managed to hit the rear tyre of the suspects' car, throwing it off the road.
"It was here that the car occupants started firing from AK series rifles. The ambush left one of our sleuths Vinod Kumar with a bullet injury. While the exchange of fire was underway, back-up from Noida police arrived on the scene. Shortly thereafter firing from opposite side stopped. It was subsequently revealed that the car was occupied by two persons who had suffered bullet injuries. They were rushed to the hospital," Brij Lal said.
On way to the hospital, one of them identified himself as Farooq of Akara in Pakistan and his aide as Abu Ismail of Rawalkot in Pakistan. However by the time the two could reach the hospital, they succumbed. The doctors at the hospital pronounced them "dead upon arrival".
Two AK-47s, 4 magazines, 120 bullets, 5 hand grenades, Rs 18,000 cash, 3 detonators, 1.5kg of RDX and a rucksack were recovered from the car, police said. The materials seized from the car point out that the terrorists were trained in making plastic explosives and had planned to trigger three blasts, added the police.
The police are trying to find out the local contacts of the terrorists, Brij Lal added. The car's engine and chassis number had been erased, he said.
"The two terrorists were heading towards Delhi and the arms and ammunition which they had, surely indicates that they were not here for site-seeing and had some deadly plans with them," said Inspector General (IG) ATS AK Jain. "We don't rule out the possibilities that the slain militants were not the only two around," Jain said adding that extensive checking of vehicles entering or leaving Noida from all the 19 points dotting the district borders - particularly the 11 that connect to Delhi - has been launched immediately after the ambush took place and the security agencies in Delhi were informed about the development.
"Though it is too early to comment on the terror outfit to which they probably belonged to, but the manner in which they took on the ATS teams during the ambush clearly confirms that they were trained hands. They resisted the police action to the best possible extent," said deputy IG ATS Rajeev Krishna who is supervising the investigations into the case.
"We have recovered some documents and a diary which will surely help us to shed some more light on the two militants. This apart, a Pakistani passport which has the photograph of Farooq has also been recovered. But in the passport, his name is mentioned as Ali Ahmad of Rahimyar in Pakistan. It remains to be established as to which of the two identities was the real one. We have leads and we are working on them," Rajeev said. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) ATS Rajeev Sabarawal was set to fly to Noida take care of the investigations first hand, he said.
"Initial investigations have revealed that the registration number (UP 14 E 9531) on the Maruti car in which the militants were moving, has traced to be that of a Bajaj Chetak scooter belonging to one Pawan Verma of Shahpur area in Gaziabad. Though it appears almost certain now that the car is a stolen one, still we are trying to trace the actual number of the car and trace its real owner," SSP ATS Rajeev Sabarwal said commenting on the status of investigations into the case.
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