Monday, August 14 2006 10:43 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Intercepts of telecommunication messages between militants in Jammu and Kashmir and their mentors in Pakistan suggest that cadres of foreign terrorist group Al Qaeda were present in the Kashmir Valley.

Senior security officials engaged in gathering 'techint', or technical intelligence, in the valley said there were intercepts of communications between Lashker-e-Taiba cadres about the presence of Al Qaeda members.

The sources said while some of them were hiding in the higher reaches of Bandipore in north Kashmir along with LeT 'chief commander' Bilal alias Salahuddin, a few more were believed to be holed up in the dense forests of Budhal in Qazigund along the Jammu-Srinagar highway in south Kashmir.

Both these locations are strategically placed as the terrorists could flee to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) within a short span of time in the event of any military offensive, they said.

The communications between two LeT groups in Bandipore and PoK that were intercepted were on a very low frequency transmitter, a mode of communication not generally used by the militants. The other intercept was of a conversation on a Thuriya satellite phone, the sources said.

"The Al Qaeda has apparently been roped in by LeT to step up militancy in the Kashmir Valley," they said.