Unknown group claims responsibility for Pune blast

Laskhar-e-Taiyba Al Alami, a hitherto unheard of terror outfit, on Tuesday claimed it carried out the Pune blast because of India's 'refusal' to discuss the Kashmir issue with Pakistan.

The claim was made by a man who called Nirupama Subramanian, the Islamabad-based correspondent of The Hindu newspaper.

The caller identified himself as Abu Jindal and described himself as the spokesman of the LeT Al Alami (International).

The caller claimed his group carried out the attack in Pune's German bakery, which killed nine people, because of what he described as India's 'refusal' to discuss the Kashmir issue in the forthcoming talks with Pakistan.

He also said his group had split from the Laskher-e-Tayiba because it 'took orders' from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

The man said 'India's alliance with the US' was 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)," the caller reportedly said.

Asked how the group had carried out the attack in Pune, the caller said his organisation had its 'sources in India' and had activated them to carry out the strike.

Subramanian said the caller, who sounded like an educated youth in his late teens or early 20s, had told her he was calling from Miramshah, the main town in Pakistan's North Waziristan, and had declined to divulge the name of his group's leader.

She said the caller's telephone number had an area code used for the Waziristan tribal region and Bannu, an adjoining district in the North West Frontier Province.

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

During a recent meeting organised to mark the Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5, Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed had said the only solution to problems between India and Pakistan is the 'liberation' of Jammu and Kashmir, failing which radical groups would resort to the 'option of jihad'.

Another meeting of radical and militant groups organised by the JuD in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on February 4 had called for the lifting of a ban on jihadi organisations so that they could press on with their movement for the independence of Kashmir.

A declaration adopted at the meeting said, "If the rulers cannot help the Kashmiris, they should open the field for Kashmiri mujahideen instead of creating hurdles. They (mujahideen) will deal with India."