Five Kashmiri students detained by Guj police

Ahmedabad, Mar 22 (UNI) The Gujarat police today confirmed that they have detained five Kashmiri madrassa students of South Gujarat for questioning on their alleged links with the four Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin militants, who were killed in an encounter here last week.

''We have definite intelligence inputs that the four HuM militants had planned to target Chief Minister Narendra Modi,'' Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Manoj Shashidhar told reporters here this evening.

Mr Shashaidhar said the militants had trailed Mr Modi to Surat when he had gone there for election campaign in January.

''They had also opted to stay in Vatva area as it is close to the Chief Minister's constituency,'' he added.

Mr Shashidhar said the four had been in touch with several Kashmiri students of the madrassas in South and Central part of the State and had tried to influence them to join their mission. They have been picked up for questioning from Surat, Bharuch and Valsad.

''We are getting their antecedents verified by the J and K police,'' he said.

A preliminary check of their documents and records of mobile phones revealed that that four militants-- Azaan, self-styled chief commander of Harkat-ul-Mujahadeen in Jammu and Kashmir, Phurkan, a resident of Karachi, and Mohammad Ayub and Mudassar, both Kashmiris-- had been frequenting Gujarat since September last year, the DCP said.

This has been ascertained through hotel records procured from Vadodara and Surat, he said.

''That they had been to Dakor, a holy town about 90 km from here, also has been revealed from the tower location (of mobile phone used),'' he said.

He said all these inputs had strengthened the police theory that terror is being exported from Kashmir and these outfits are trying to spread their tentacles in West and South India too.

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