Three terrorist groups that are banned by the Indian government—Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, and Jaish-e-Mohammed —have established a joint training facility in Abbottabad, Pakistan, according to intelligence sources close to NDTV.
Abbottabad was home to former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who operated from a secure walled compound. In May 2011, U.S. special forces raided the site, killing bin Laden. A year later the compound was demolished by the Pakistan goverment.
Interestingly, the training camp operates on a site the belongs to Pakistan’s Army and is situated close to a military installation, hence, it is considered as a ‘safe zone’. This proximity to the Army camp provides a high level of protection, making it nearly impossible for outsiders to approach without military clearance.
Sources also said, young men and women are trained there under the supervision of Pak’s intel agency ISI.
However, it is not known whether the new training camp is built over the ruins of bin Laden’s former safe house.
News of a new terrorist training center emerges following a series of recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, including Thursday night’s assault on an Army vehicle in Baramulla district.
Gulmarg terror attack: Two soldiers succumb to injuries, toll rises to four
Two soldiers who were critically wounded in Thursday’s terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gulmarg succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll in the ambush to four.
Two Army porters died on Thursday while another porter and a soldier were injured.
Terrorists attacked a vehicle of the force six kilometres from tourist hotspot Gulmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, officials said on Thursday.
They had said the terrorists opened fire on the Army vehicle in the Bota Pathri area in the evening when it was headed for the Nagin post in the Afrawat range.
Confirming the deaths of the two porters, the officials had said the condition of two of the injured soldiers was critical.
They had said the soldiers in the vehicle opened retaliatory fire when they came under attack.