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Onkar Singh in Srinagar
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Girish Chander Saxena has described the October 1 attack on the state assembly by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists as a desperate act.
He admitted that the fidayeens (suicide bombers) had managed to break the security cordon and sneak into the assembly building, after the car bomb blast.
"Though fidayeen attacks have taken place before, it is for the first time that they managed to sneak into the heavily fortified state assembly building with large quantity of arms and ammunition," Saxena told rediff.com in Srinagar on late Friday evening.
Giving the details of the exchange of fire between the three terrorists and the paramilitary forces, he said that the terrorists were heavily armed with grenades.
"They exploded more than sixty grenades in the assembly complex. They also exchanged fire with the police for over three hours. They must have been heavily armed. Probably, they had tied the grenades on their person and managed to hoodwink the security guards taking advantage of the chaotic situation on the scene," the governor admitted.
Defending the intelligence agencies, who were caught napping, Saxena gave an example: "This time the US intelligence did not get the inputs in time and the terrorists managed to strike in NY and Washington," he said.
Analysing the various terrorist outfits in the state, he said Laskhar-e-Tayiba is a bigger threat than Jaish-e-Mohammed.
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