Terror suspect arrested in India

LUCKNOW, India, June 23 (UPI) -- The suspected leader of a terrorist cell in India was arrested Saturday in a police raid that also netted a colleague and a cache of weapons and explosives.

Police said Harkat-ul-Jehad al-Islam's Indian operations leader, Jalaluddin, also known as Amanullah Mandal and Babu, was arrested in connection with the 2005 Shramjeevi train blast and the Sankat Mochan attack in Varanasi last year, The Times of India reported. His alleged accomplice, Naushad, also known as Hafiz and Sabir, was also arrested.

Police confiscated about 20 pounds of the explosive RDX, detonators, hand grenades, several automatic weapons, ammunition and cash, the newspaper said.

Harkat-ul-Jehad, with headquarters in Bangladesh, has become the biggest terror threat in India and is blamed for deadly attacks on trains and the Mecca mosque in Hyderabad, as well as kidnappings and extortion. The group is believed to operate in close coordination with another terror group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been blamed for the Mumbai train blasts.

Police sources told the Times the two men were arrested in a busy area in the center of Lucknow.