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“Lashkar-e-Taiba leader said to be in Pakistani custody directs operations in Kashmir”
By BILL ROGGIO
April 3, 2009 12:14 AM

A sketch of Yusuf Muzammil from Maharashtra State Police.

SNIPPET: “A senior Lashkar-e-Taiba military commander behind the Mumbai terror assault and thought to be in Pakistani custody is directing complex military operations into India-held Kashmir, according to intelligence intercepts by Indian intelligence agencies.

Yusuf Muzammil, the senior operations director for the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been overheard by Indian intelligence requesting Hizbul Mujahideen Chief Syed Sallahuddin “to push a large number of militant cadres into the state” of Kashmir and Jammu, The Times of India reported.

Muzammil is said to have planned the winter infiltration operations, which requires elite forces from the Hizbul Mujahideen, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and other allied terrorist groups to push through the treacherous snow-covered winter passages along the northern end of the Line of Control into Indian-held Kashmir.

The fighters are said to be well trained for high-altitude and cold-weather environments and well equipped to survive the dangerous crossings. The groups are equipped with global positioning systems and cold-weather gear, The Hindu reported.”

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53779

Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill Five Enemy Fighters

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2009 – Afghan and coalition forces killed five enemy fighters in operations yesterday and overnight in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, military officials reported.

The overnight operation in the province’s Nad Ali district, targeted a mid-level Taliban commander responsible for attacks against Afghan civilians and coalition forces, including a suicide-bomber attack on the Musa Qala Bazaar and an attack on coalition forces that killed 12 Afghan civilians in Musa Qala, both in December.

Upon arriving at the targeted compound, assault forces killed two guards who attempted to engage them. Afghan forces called out for all noncombatants to leave the compound, and two armed militants who didn’t comply were killed during the assault on the building they occupied. Forces removed AK-47 assault rifles, shotguns and chest racks from the compound, preventing militants from using them against civilians or Afghan and coalition Forces.

Five men, 10 women and 21 children were protected during the operation, with no collateral damage reported to the compound, officials said.

In northern Helmand yesterday, a combined force on a combat reconnaissance patrol was attacked by insurgents with small-arms, rocket-propelled grenade and mortar fire. The combined forces closed in on enemy fighting positions and returned fire, killing one attacker.

In a separate incident, a coalition forces convoy vehicle struck a roadside bomb, damaging an ambulance carrying medical personnel and supplies on its way to deliver humanitarian aid to villages in Helmand’s Kajaki district. No injuries were reported.

(Compiled from U.S. Forces Afghanistan news releases.)