Monday, July 11 2005 11:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The terrorists who attacked the Ramjanmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya may have been Arabic-speaking persons who entered India possibly via Nepal, according to investigators.

Questioning of the driver Raj Kumar, who brought the five attackers from Akbarpur to Ayodhya, indicated the militants spoke with each other in Arabic, sources told PTI here (New Delhi) today (July 11, 2005).

The driver indicated the terrorists did not speak in Kashmiri.

Kumar was made to hear to in Kashmiri by his interrogators and asked if the language spoken by the militants was similar and his reply was negative. Then, Arabic was spoken before him and his reply was in affirmative when queried if the language spoken by the ultras resembled it, said the sources.

They said the identification of the terrorists was turning out to be difficult as no clear evidence of that was recovered from them.

Investigators suspect some evidence about their identities could have been "misplaced or destroyed" during or after the operation to repulse their attack.

"There must have been some more bags which could have contained something indicating the identity of the terrorists, but these have not been found so far," the sources said.

The investigators have recovered a pocket-sized Holy Quran published in Delhi from the slain terrorists and caps, which show that these had been purchased in Nepal, indicating they had come via the Himalayan kingdom.

The two AK rifles recovered from the terrorists bore the initials 'T A K', which the investigators were trying to decipher.

A T-shirt worn by a terrorist had 'Khushaab' inscribed on it and investigators were trying to find out where such shirts are made and sold.