India arrests suspected terrorist
August 29, 2013India's home minister, Sushilkumar Shinde said that Yasin Bhatkal was arrested Wednesday night in the eastern state of Bihar near India's border with Nepal.
"He is now in the custody of Bihar Police and interrogation is on," Shinde told reporters at a press conference in the capital, New Delhi, on Thursday.
Authorities say Bhatkal, who was one of the country's most wanted fugitives, is one of the leaders of the Indian Mujahideen, a militant group that has been linked to the Pakistan-based Islamist rebel group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
The banned Indian Mujahideen is thought to be behind several bombings in India since 2005, which killed hundreds of people.
Earlier this month Indian security forces arrested another alleged top militant, Abdul Karim Tunda, who is thought to be a senior member of the LeT.
Tunda is accused of plotting serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 in which 250 people died, as well as dozens of other deadly bomb attacks across the country.
hc/pfd (AFP, AP, dpa)