header banner

Pakistan-based group claims Pune bombing

alt=
By No Author
NEW DELHI, Feb 17: A previously unknown Islamist group that said it had splintered from a larger Pakistan-based outfit has claimed responsibility for a weekend attack in India, a newspaper reported Wednesday.



The Hindu, a respected Indian newspaper, said it had been contacted by someone claiming to be a spokesman for a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi which said it had carried out the bombing that killed 10 people.[break]



An individual codenamed Abu Jindal rang the paper´s Islamabad correspondent and said the attack was in response to India´s "refusal" to discuss the disputed region of Kashmir, claimed by Pakistan and India, in peace talks due to resume this month.



Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi split from the larger Lashkar-e-Taiba because the latter "took its orders from Pakistan´s intelligence agency," the paper said.



The banned Lashkar-e-Taiba is blamed by India for the attacks on Mumbai in November 2008 which killed 166 people and led to a suspension of dialogue between India and Pakistan.



Saturday´s bombing at the German Bakery restaurant in the western city of Pune killed 10 people including an Italian woman and an Iranian man.



It was the first major attack on Indian soil since the 2008 Mumbai carnage.



Foreign secretaries from India and Pakistan are to hold peace talks on February 25.



Related story

Worker from Nepal killed in explosion at Pune manufacturing fir...

Related Stories
My City

Nepali movies in Pune

Kalo-Pothi.jpg
WORLD

Islamic State claims responsibility for Egypt chur...

Mideast-Egypt_nagr.jpg
DIASPORA

Tourist from Pune, Nepali pilot die in paragliding...

Paragliding-photo.jpg
WORLD

Zika virus outbreak in Pune: How does the infectio...

zika_20240704125858.jpg
SPORTS

India beat South Africa at Pune to clinch series

Virat-Kohli-Jan6.jpg