Monday, August 22 2005 14:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: : It was Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and not Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) behind the July five attack on the Ram Janambhoomi temple complex in Ayodhya as was suspected earlier, informed sources said.

During a detailed interrogation by Central Security agencies of the five persons arrested, it was found that that it was JeM and not LeT behind the failed attack on the makeshift temple, the sources said.

Though UP and Jammu and Kashmir police were trying hard to piece together their stories of Lashkar being involved in the attack, several leads clearly indicated involvement of JeM in the attack which includes evidences gathered by central agencies that Mohammed Kari, the absconding mastermind, wasthe local commander of JeM and not Lashker.

During investigation, it was found that one of the five militants killed during the attack on July five had visited Deoband and had stayed there.

JeM is headed by Masood Azhar, who was released in 1999 in exchange of hijacked passengers of IC-814. He had mentioned attack on the Ram temple in his diary when he was arrested in mid 90s, the sources said.

The sources quoted the arrested militants saying that it was one of the unfulfilled dreams of Azhar to attack sanctum sanctorum of the Ram temple at Ayodhya and one of the important tasks of JeM formed after breaking away from Harkat -ul-Mujahideen (HuM).