An investigation into the killing of eight Hindu pilgrims in India-held Kashmir last month has revealed the alleged involvement of terrorists belonging to the banned Lashkar-i-Taiba (LT), Indian police said on Sunday.
Police said that the investigation had concluded that LT and Kashmiri accomplices were behind the July 10 attack in which terrorists opened fire on a bus carrying Hindus on the annual Amarnath pilgrimage.
Inspector General of Police Muneer Ahmed Khan told reporters in IHK's Anantnag district that LT "was involved and the accused have been identified".
He alleged that two LT terrorists of Pakistani and Kashmiri origin, along with two others, "carried out the attack".
Three others who allegedly provided logistical support to the terrorists, including hiding places and vehicles, had been arrested.
The July shooting was the worst such attack in the divided Himalayan region since 2000, when terrorists fired at a group of Hindu pilgrims and killed 32 people including two police officers.
IGP Khan said that the terrorists had carefully plotted to attack any police or tourist vehicle that crossed their path on the evening of the assault.
"They had kept separate code words for tourist and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) vehicles [...] it was purely an act of terrorism carried out with an aim to spread fear," he claimed.
LT has been blamed for a string of deadly attacks inside India, most notably the Mumbai carnage in November 2008, when heavily armed gunmen battled commandos on the streets of the financial capital.
The police announcement comes days after Indian security forces claimed to have killed a suspected LT commander, reportedly identified as Abu Dujana, and an 'accomplice' in the Hakripora village of Pulwama district.
The Kashmir Media Service had reported that the "charred bodies of two youth were recovered from the debris of two residential houses destroyed by the [Indian] troops while using chemical substance during a crackdown operation in Hakripora area of the Srinagar district".
