Jharkhand (Islamist/Other Conflicts): Timeline (Terrorist Activities) -2002

According to media reports, an attempt by suspected Jammu and Kashmiri terrorists to blow up the Birsa Munda Central Jail and the administrative block of Ranchi College was foiled when police recovered a huge quantity of explosives outside the jail premises on January 22. The explosives were seized following a tip off that suspected terrorists riding two two-wheelers with a plan to blow up the two structures had left for their destinations. 22 gelatine sticks, 10 detonators and 20 metres of fuse wire were recovered. One person has been arrested in connection with the incident. Police sources have indicated that an unnamed Kashmir-based terrorist outfit might have planned the attacks in protest against the jailing of over a dozen foreign mercenaries at the Hazaribagh Central Jail. Read less...

Police on January 28 killed two Pakistani mercenaries allegedly involved in the January 22 attack on American Centre in Kolkata in Hazaribagh. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on January 28, Union Home Secretary Kamal Pande said the Jharkhand police raided a hideout and in the encounter that ensued, two Pakistani terrorists were seriously injured. Pande said that one of them Mohammad Zahid, in a statement admitted that he was a resident of Khanewala district in Multan and had opened fire at the police personnel guarding the American Centre. Both of them died at hospital. "Further investigations are being carried out but there is hardly any doubt now about the role of Pakistani nationals and Pak-based terrorist ‘tanzeems’ in this case", the Union Home Secretary added. He said a new trend was emerging in terms of the direct involvement of Pakistani nationals in terrorist, espionage and subversive activities in India. Apart from the December 13 terrorist attacks at the Parliament House, there have been at least five cases of subversion and espionage in recent months in which Pakistani nationals were arrested in the country, Pande said. Those arrested admitted during interrogation that they had been sent to India for sabotage and terrorism at the behest of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), he added. Putting together the sequence of events after the January 22 incident, Mr. Pande said the Dubai-based criminal, Farhan Malik alias Aftab Ahmed Ansari, had called up the police and two newspaper offices in Kolkata within a few hours of the shooting and claimed responsibility. It also became known that Farhan Malik operated the terrorist module in conjunction with the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami (HUJI) and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Read less...

According to official sources, the two Pakistani mercenaries involved in the January 22 terrorist attack on the American Centre, who were consequently killed in an encounter in Hazaribagh, Jharkand, on January 28 belonged to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT). Soumen Mitra, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, while speaking to a news agency in Hazaribagh on January 29, said this was proved by the dying declaration of one of the slain terrorists, Zaheed. He said the declaration of Zaheed also tallied with the statement recorded by Kolkata police from eyewitness accounts. He added that although the identity of Zaheed's companion Salim was not established, it was confirmed that he was part of the terrorist outfit. Mitra said linkages of the slain terrorists with Nalanda-based criminals have also been established. Read less...