India links Kashmiri terrorism to al-Qaida

NEW DELIHI, India, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- The Indian foreign secretary charged Monday that violent Islamist groups in Kashmir have ties to al-Qaida.

"What can be ascribed to al-Qaida or with regard to a possible bombing plot in the U.K., we are finding again and again that the links go back to the same groups," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters. "They may not not be al-Qaida but certainly they seemed to be functioning very closely aligned with al-Qaida."

India believes the bombings of commuter trains that killed more than 200 people in Bombay, now officially Mumbai, on July 11 were carried out by militants trained by two Pakistani groups. Saran said terrorism stands in the way of a better relationship between India and Pakistan, the Press Trust of India reported.