Barely six months after it carried out the Mumbai 26/11 attack,terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba plotted to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Discussions to carry out the attack took place between Pakistani handlers and Indian members in June last year,intelligence reports released by WikiLeaks have revealed. The terror organisation had charted out three major tasks in India just six months after 26/11 the assassination plot; setting up of terror camps in South India; and selection of more terror targets. Another task pertained to some work involving a car but details were not shared in the leaked diplomatic cable.It also reveals that a facilitation team of the LeT has been set up in Sri Lanka. The cable reveals that the US was in possession of intelligence that terror attacks on India were being actively planned in Pakistan by LeT members who were controlling cells in India. The agent in Pakistan being tracked was one Shafiq Khafa who was,according to the inputs,also coordinating LeT operations in Nepal,Sri Lanka and Nepal. LeT member Shafiq Khafa (Pak based) possibly preparing for operations. Hussein,an India-based LeT member,continued operational planning on three tasks in early June. The tasks were associated with a possible operation against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,the establishment of a training camp,and unspecified work involving a car, the cable reads. It goes on to say that Hussein would coordinate his activities with another India-based colleague who has been identified as Sameer. Another separate intelligence input suggested that Khafa was plotting attacks along with an Indian associate identified as S J. Pakistan-based Shafiq Khafa prepared in mid-June with India-based associate S J for possible operations in India, the cable reads. In addition,the US intelligence reports say that Khafa was looking for training sites for LeT operations in Southern India. Khafa was looking for information on possible training sites in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu,Karnataka,and Kerala, the cable reads. The intelligence report says that LeT cells were engaged in surveillance activities of potential targets,including those in southern India. More worryingly,the report indicates that a facilitation team of the LeT has been established in Sri Lanka and would look at entry routes to India from there. Early-May reporting further suggests Kerala or Tamil Nadu may be used as a base of operations following the establishment of a facilitation team in Sri Lanka,with the estimated time needed for setting up the facilitation route and camps put at two to three months. Besides the Sri Lankan camp,the intelligence report says that the LeT is working to get two teams functional in southern India with the help of the Lashkars network in neighbouring countries. Khafas network is striving to stand up two teams in southern India that rely on the support of LeT (Lashkar) members based in India,Sri Lanka,Pakistan and Nepal. Although specific details of planned LeT attacks remain unknown,late-May intelligence indicates Khafas cells were engaged in surveillance activities of potential targets,likely in southern India, the report says.
