(RTTNews) -  India's Home Minister P Chidambaram confirmed Friday that two persons of al-Qaeda's "313 Brigade" were arrested in Pakistan on FBI advice. This indicated a Pakistani link to the terror plans of arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) men David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussein Rana--a Pakistan-born Canadian citizen--nabbed by the American internal security agency in the U.S., he said.

"There is an obvious Pakistan link--if you have read the FBI affidavit reproduced in the newspapers--Headley visited Pakistan a number of times. And, I think, on the advice of the FBI, two or more people were arrested in Pakistan. So there is a Pakistan link", he told reporters in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

Besides, Chidambaram said, Rana and Headly were connected to the terrorists arrested earlier by Islamabad.

During their September 7 conversations, the two referred to about plans drawn up by the LeT, to launch major terror attacks on the facilities of a Danish newspaper--which caricature Prophet Mohammed--and the National Defense College in New Delhi, besides two leading boarding schools located in prominent hill stations in a north Indian state and a few five-star hotels in some popular Indian tourist spots.
The Indian Minister said affidavits relating to the case were filed by the FBI in a Chicago court.

Thursday, Pakistan media claimed that the authorities had arrested the key suspect behind the plot to attack the National Defense College in New Delhi, leading to the exposure of the LeT plot in the U.S.

The obvious question being raised in the Indian media was whether Pakistani authorities had prior knowledge of the terror plot and whether they were trying to shield the LeT by concealing this fact.

by RTT Staff Writer

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