Punjab terror attack: Agencies probe Babbar Khalsa-Lashkar link

NEW DELHI: Intelligence agencies believe Monday's strike may have been in the works for more than a year as they had come across some intercepts around that time which suggested that Babbar Khalsa International-Lashkar modules were planning a "suicide attack" at the Punjab Police academy by a group of 3-5 terrorists - a number eerily close to those who were involved in the attack in Dinanagar.

This input also suggested that Ayodhya may be a target, a highly placed source said on Monday, adding that the agencies were tracking movements in that area.

Agency sources also did not dismiss the assumption in certain quarters that the announcement of the date of Yakub Memon's execution could have been the immediate trigger for the atrocity in Punjab, but stressed that given that terrorists were preparing for a strike in Punjab, disrupting peace around Independence Day seemed to be their primary agenda.

Agencies have concrete information that modules of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), which have been sheltered by Pakistan as part of its plan to use terror groups to harass India, have been under immense pressure from the ISI to attack Indian establishments with help from Lashkar-e-Toiba.

ISI recently asked for a big step-up in recruitment for BKI as part of what is called 'Khalistan by 2020' campaign.

As per an intelligence advisory circulated among agencies a few months ago, BKI's Pakistan-based commander Wadhwa Singh and his counterpart from LeT have been holding regular meetings in Choburjee, Lahore, to plot a "synchronized attack" on Punjab and Delhi, sources said. The ISI has also worked for collaboration between Lashkar and Khalistanis to prepare a deadly mix of jihadi and Khalistani terror.

The intelligence advisory said LeT commander Tufaili Nayat Mir had visited Canada and Germany to meet BKI operatives. It also listed Ayodhya, police academies and cantonment areas as potential targets of the ISI-scripted plot.

"There have been sustained efforts by Wadhwa Singh and others based abroad to rejuvenate the organization. Singh has been able to raise human bombs to be used at an opportune moment. Large quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives were smuggled from across the border in the Jammu region and delivered to BKI cadres in Delhi-Punjab regions using trans-border smugglers," the intelligence note prepared a few months ago said.