Pakistan admits to presence of Terrorist Training Camps on its soil

Submitted by Amaan (India), Jan 15, 2009 at 19:32

Under mounting international pressure, Pakistan on Thursday said it has shut down five "training camps" of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa outfit, an admission perhaps for the first time of presence of terror facilities on its soil, besides arrest of 124 leaders of LeT and other banned groups.

Islamabad also said it has formed an investigation team to probe the Mumbai attacks and that it accepted the information provided by India on the 26/11 strikes.

"We are accepting that information, and we have formed an investigation team with a view to reach the culprits," Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik told a press conference when asked whether the information provided by New Delhi on the Mumbai attacks constituted evidence.

He said that "mid-level and top leaders" of banned militant groups had been detained so far in the wake of the Mumbai attacks. These included 69 militant leaders held in Punjab province, 21 in Sindh, 25 in Balochistan and eight in North West Frontier Province.

Authorities had shut down five "training camps" run by the JuD in Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. There were "traces" that five of the JuD camps were being used as "training camps", Malik told a press conference.

This is probably for the first time that Pakistan, which has for years denied existence of terror training camps on its soil, has admitted to their presence.

Malik said among those detained as part of the crackdown on the banned groups were JuD and Lashkar-e-Toiba leaders, including Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of both groups; Mufti Abdur Rehman; Col (retired) Nazir Ahmed; Ameer Hamza and LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.

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