Tuesday, October 11 2005 19:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Army Chief General J J Singh has said the terrorist training and recruitment camps operating in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir might have been 'affected' in Saturday's (Oct 8, 2005) killer earthquake.

"The worst affected areas are the ones that had terrorist camps in Muzaffarabad and nearby areas. When the entire villages have been wiped out, it is possible that these terrorist camps have also been affected," Singh told reporters.

Muzaffarabad was the epicentre of the earthquake that struck last weekend killing thousands of people in PoK and Pakistan.

This town as well as the adjoining areas falling in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan had training camps of militant outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashker-e-Taiba, Tehrek-ul-Mujahideen (TuM), Hizbul Mujahideen and Al-Badar.

Wireless messages of TuM, intercepted by central security agencies last evening, said the outfits building around Muzaffarbad had been damaged with some 'boys (militants) buried under it.'

They said majority of the training camps were located near the epicentre of the quake with Lashker's office and hospital in Muzzafarabad being completely razed to ground.

The Harkat-ul--Mujahideen's training centre at Balkote and Batrasi, Jaish-e-Mohammed's camp at Auttuck, Al-Badar's at Oghi, Lashker's at Mansera and recruitment camp of Hizbul Mujahideen at Jungle-Mangal had been damaged to a great extent, the sources said.