Top LeT man held in IISc attack case

In a major breakthrough, a top militant of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) has been arrested in connection with the terror attack on the Indian Institute of Science here.

Identified as the man in charge of LeT's operations in south India, 35-year old Abdul Rehman was arrested at Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh on January one by Bangalore police who had cast a countrywide net to nab perpetrators of the December 28 terror strike.

Rehman's links with LeT had been established and his arrest would "certainly' lead to a major breakthrough in the case, Bangalore Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh told a crowded press conference here. "He was one of the top operatives in the LeT hierarchy."

Rehman, said to be in charge of "violent" LeT operations in south India, was produced before a magistrate who remanded him to 14 days' police custody today, Singh said.

An Indian citizen, Rehman frequented Saudi Arabia, where he had also stayed for a few years, the police chief said, adding that Rehman's role in the terror attack was being investigated and it was premature to say if he was the prime accused or an abettor.

"We have reasons to arrest him," he said.