Jaish-e-Mohammad denies involvement in Kabul attack

PESHAWAR - The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has denied its hand in Friday’s suicide bombing in Kabul in which 17 people, including 10 Indians, were killed.

Hasan Burki, who claimed to be the spokesperson of the JeM, told The News over telephone that his group did not carry out the bombings.

It may be noted that the a man who introduced himself as spokesman for the banned group had called the BBC Urdu in London to claim the responsibility for the attack.

Burki, who claimed that he was currently in Kashmir, said his group had nothing to do with Afghanistan or the Afghan Taliban.

“Our military operations are confined to held Kashmir. We are fighting to win freedom for the Kashmiri people. We consider the struggle of the Afghan Taliban as just, but we don’t carry out attacks in Afghanistan,” Burki said.

He also alleged that the man who claimed the responsibility on behalf of the JeM, which was founded by Maulana Masood Azhar, might have been an agent of Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

“It is possible that the man who phoned the BBC was an agent of RAW and made this claim to malign the Jaish-e-Mohammad,” Burki said.

Soon after the series of explosions and gunfire at a kebab shop near a nine-story shopping complex which houses the Safi Landmark Hotel, in which several Indian citizens were staying, the Taliban through their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had claimed responsibility for the bloodshed.

Mujahid said the attack was carried out by five Taliban fidayeens’ (suicide bombers). (ANI)