Unknown Pakistani terror group owns up Pune bombing

NEW DELHI - An unknown Pakistan-based terror group, the Lashkar-e-Taiba Al Alami (LeT-international), Tuesday claimed responsibility for the bombing in a Pune eatery that killed 10 people Saturday evening.

A man identifying himself as Abu Jindal, the “spokesman” of the group, called Islamabad-based Indian journalist Nirupama Subramanian, and claimed that the group carried out the attack because of “two reasons”.

India’s “refusal” to discuss Kashmir in the forthcoming talks with Pakistan and New Delhi’s “alliance” with the US were the two reasons, the caller told the correspondent of The Hindu newspaper.

“Joh bhi America ka ittehadi hoga, hum uskey khilaf jang ladengey, chahey woh India ho ya Pakistan (Be it India or Pakistan, we will fight against any ally of America).”

The man said he was calling from Miranshah in North Waziristan. The telephone number had an area code of Waziristan in the North-West Frontier Province in Pakistan, according to the scribe.

When she tried calling the number, a recorded voice message said the telephone was temporarily not in use.

Jindal said the group had split from the Lashkar-e-Taiba because it took orders from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

There were no more details about the group but the caller told the Indian scribe that the Pune attack was carried out with the help of its “sources” in India.

Ten people, including three foreigners, were killed and 60 injured in Saturday evening’s blast at Pune’s German Bakery, popular with youngsters and foreigners. The explosive was kept in a backpack under a table and went off when a waiter tried to open it.

Jehadi leaders and militant commanders had vowed to carry out attacks in India when they spoke in rallies organised in Pakistan to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day by the Jamaat-ud-Daawah, a frontal outfit of the Lashkar.

LeT chief Hafiz Saeed had said the only solution to problems between India and Pakistan was the “liberation” of Jammu and Kashmir. The group had another option of launching a pan-India jehad, he threatened.

A similar meeting of militant groups in Pakistan-administered Kashmir Feb 4 also called for the independence of Kashmir.