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Indian Police Arrest Alleged Coordinator of Delhi Blasts


Indian police have arrested a Kashmiri man, who they believe planned last month's deadly bomb attacks that killed at least 60 people and wounded more than 200 in New Delhi. Police say the man has links to the outlawed Islamic terrorist group, Laskhar-e-Taiba.

Delhi Police Commissioner K.K.Paul says Tariq Ahmad Dars' interrogation has revealed that he financed and coordinated last month's bomb blasts, which devastated India's capital just two days before the main Hindu festival of Diwali.

Thirty-three-year-old Mr. Dar was arrested Thursday in Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar, and is in custody of the Delhi police.

Mr. Paul says the hunt is on for four other accomplices, who include key operatives of the terrorist group, Laskhar-e-Taiba.

The police commissioner says all the evidence and clues authorities have gathered clearly reveal the attacks were the handiwork of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. It is one of the most prominent militant groups waging a separatist insurgency in Indian Kashmir.

Soon after the blasts, an obscure group, called the Islami Inquilabi Mahaz, or Islamic Revolutionary Group, claimed responsibility for the bombs, but Indian authorities had doubted the authenticity of the claim.

Mr. Dar will remain in police custody for several days before being formally charged. Police say he works with a pharmaceutical company in Srinagar, and was not in New Delhi during the attack, but came to the city three weeks before the blasts to scout for locations.

The attacks prompted the police to launch one of the biggest manhunts in recent times. Last week, Indian troops arrested another suspected militant from Jammu and Kashmir state in connection with the blasts, but police later said they found no evidence against him.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba has been accused of other terror attacks in India, including an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001. The group was banned in 2002 by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, amid pressure on terror groups following the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.

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