‘Attacks were planned by Let’

The Mumbai police crime branch investigating the terror attack said on Sunday that Ajmal Kasab (21), the only terrorist captured alive, has told his interrogators that this was a Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) operation. Ajmal had said that they were handpicked for this operation by their handlers and were trained extensively before carrying out the attack.“Ajmal has told us that he joined the Pakistan-based terror outfit one-and-a-half years ago and that the group of 10 including Ajmal were trained in camps in Pakistan. The group was extremely well equipped and well trained,” said Mr Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police, crime. Ajmal also told his interrogators that they were handpicked for the operation. “We are verifying the identities of their handlers and shall disclose them once they are confirmed. Ajmal told us that the group was handpicked for the operation,” said Mr Maria.According to Mr Maria, the crime branch is now in touch with Central agencies to verify what Ajmal has told them. “Ajmal gave us the names of the other nine terrorists, some of them may be aliases. We are now in touch with Central agencies to verify the information given by Ajmal,” said Mr Maria.Meanwhile the police only has CCTV footage of the CST attack and not of the Taj Hotel and the Trident Oberoi. “The systems of the hotels are currently down. We are however hopeful of getting the footage once the systems are restored,” said Mr Maria.