Police 'foil' Delhi airport attack

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SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir (CNN) -- The Jammu and Kashmir police say they have thwarted a suicide attack planned by Pakistani militants on New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Gopal Sharma, the state director general of police, told reporters Saturday that police arrested three men in connection with the foiled attack.

"The three militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were arrested by Poonch district police (and they were) from outside the state," Sharma said.

Lashkar e-Taiba is a Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant outfit designated as a terrorist group by India, Pakistan and the United States. It has been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. Some Western analysts say the group has had links with the al Qaeda terrorist organization.

Sharma identified the men as Assanullah alias Abu Bilal, Mohammad Bashir alias Abu Maria and Rashid alias Abu Kasha, all of them Pakistani nationals.

"Their preliminary interrogation revealed that they intended to carry out a criminal act of terror on Indira Gandhi International Airport around February 20," Sharma said.

Delhi's sole airport is the second-busiest in India -- after Mumbai's. Delhi has a population of 15 million.

Three AK-56 rifles, 12 hand grenades and 480 rounds of ammunition were recovered from the men, Sharma said.

The police chief said a local guide whose job was to facilitate the movement of the militants to Delhi and reconnoiter the area evaded arrest.

Sharma said the plan was hatched in Fazalabad village in Surankote of Poonch district, about 250 km southwest of Srinagar. The area falls under the Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir.

The police chief alleged that LeT commanders Abu Salama and Assadullah, under the supervision of the LeT's divisional commander, Abu Hanzullah, had readied the three men to carry out a suicide attack.

Abu Salama, Sharma said, was the mastermind of the January 2 suicide attack on Jammu railway station that killed four security personnel and wounded nine others.

New of the foiled attack came three days after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced that his country and India had agreed to start dialogue on the issue of Kashmir later this year.

-- Journalist Mukhtar Ahmad In Srinagar and CNN Correspondent Ram Ramgopal in New Delhi contributed to this report.