“Sovereignty Under Siege” continues…

Besides the weapons, ammunition, hand grenades and grenade launchers found on them, small pieces of paper with five Indian mobile numbers and two Dubai numbers were recovered from each one of the dead jihadis. They carried fake identity cards of ‘Xansa Webcity’, which bore a common contact number, 98xxx89429. A fake ID of Cybertech Computer Hardware Solutions in the name of Ashiq Hussain was found on the dead body of Mohammad.

Arms, ammunition, binoculars, batteries and daggers were recovered from the car used by the attackers. Ownership documents of the car and a map of Delhi were also found. In its boot lay an IED, made of 30 kilograms of explosive material, which was removed by the bomb disposal squad of the NSG. Had the car bomb exploded at any time, it would have caused devastating damage.

The bodies of the terrorists were shifted to Lady Hardinge Medical College Hospital for post-mortem and identification. The telephone numbers that were found written on the slips of paper recovered from the terrorists’ bodies were 98xxx10816, 98xxx11085, 98xxx44860, 98xxx02438 and 98xxx59315. The two Dubai-based telephone numbers that were also found in the pockets of the slain men were 0097150xxx6899 and 0097150xxx83340. Their analysis led to the finding that the terrorists had been in touch with the numbers 98xxx89429 (later found to be of one Mohammad Afzal); 98xxx73506 (later found to be that of Shaukat Hussain Guru) and 98xxx81228 (later found to be that of S.A.R. Geelani). It was also established that Geelani’s number had been receiving calls from a satellite phone that was later found to belong to Ghazi Baba—the area commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM; a Pakistani jihadi group fighting for the ‘liberation’ of Kashmir) in India.

On 14 December 2001, the day after the attack,
an incoming call from Srinagar to the mobile number 98xxx81228, registered in the name of S.A.R. Geelani, was intercepted. The conversation was in Kashmiri, which was immediately translated into Hindi by our officers. Geelani was heard speaking excitedly in support of the attack.

To be continued…