Terror group builds big base under Pakistani officials' noses

[babylonsister]

Terror group builds big base under Pakistani officials' noses

By Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers


BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan — A Pakistani terrorist group that's allied with al Qaida and sends jihadists to Afghanistan to fight U.S. and government troops is building a huge new base in full view of the authorities in Pakistan's most heavily populated province, locals and officials told McClatchy.

Jaish-e-Mohammad ("Army of Mohammad"), which is linked to a series of atrocities, including an attack on the Indian parliament in Delhi and the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, has walled off a 4.5-acre compound three miles outside the town of Bahawalpur in the far south of the Pakistan's heartland Punjab province.

Jaish, which the State Department designated a "foreign terrorist organization" in December 2001 and Pakistan banned in 2002, already has a headquarters and a seminary in the town's center. However, the new facility, surrounded by a high brick and mud wall, has a tiled swimming pool, stabling for more than a dozen horses, an ornamental fountain and even swings and a slide for children.

There are jihadist inscriptions painted on the inside walls, including a proclamation that "Jaish-e-Mohammad will return", alongside a picture of Delhi's historic Red Fort, implying further terrorist attacks against the Indian capital.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/75340.html

[Ian David]

1. Pakistan: "We are shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to find a terrorist base in Pakistan!" n/t