India arrests suspected top militant Yasin Bhatkal
Bhatkal a member of Indian Mujahideen, blamed for killing hundreds in bomb blasts across India
Indian police have arrested the alleged co-founder of a home-grown militant group, the Indian Mujahideen, which is suspected of killing hundreds in multiple attacks across the country, a minister said yesterday.
Yasin Bhatkal, believed to be in his 30s, was arrested near the border with Nepal and is in police custody in the northern state of Bihar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in the capital.
"He is being interrogated," he said. "I cannot disclose which intelligence agencies were involved."
The banned Indian Mujahideen came to public attention in November 2007 following serial blasts in Uttar Pradesh state.
It is accused of a string of attacks since then in Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Pune among other locations.
The group is thought to head a network of home-grown Islamic militant groups, with some analysts believing it has links to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed militant organisations.
Bhatkal was named as a co-conspirator over an attack on the German Bakery restaurant in the western city of Pune in 2010 when a bomb placed in a rucksack under a table exploded, killing 17 people including five foreigners.