Assam: 7 men apprehended for Hizbul links

A total of seven people have been apprehended in Assam over the last four days on the suspicion of having links with the terrorist organisation, Hizb-ul Mujahideen.

The arrests were made after a massive manhunt was launched on Friday by security agencies in Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

The joint operation was launched by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), along with the Assam Police, and Crime Branch after suspected Hizb-ul Mujahideen terrorist Qamar-us-Zaman was nabbed in Kanpur last week.

Special Director General of Police (Assam), Pallav Bhattacharyya, confirmed the developments.

"So far seven members of Hizb-ul Mujahideen have been apprehended. If you look at the history of Assam, several foreign-based extremist organisations tried to gain foot-hold here but none succeeded. We are confident of being able to neutralise them with help of people of Assam," Bhattacharyya told ANI.

On Saturday, two men, identified as Saidul Alam and Omar Farooq, were arrested for alleged links with Zaman.

A resident of Assam, Zaman was arrested from Kanpur on Thursday by the Uttar Pradesh ATS along with the police. He was allegedly planning an attack to disrupt the ongoing Ganesh Chaturthi festivities in the country.