Attari : The Border Security Force (BSF) in Punjab on Jan 14 said they had apprehended a teenaged potential suicide bomber who was on a reconnaissance mission at the Attari international border to facilitate infiltration of a squad of seven suicide bombers, including three females.

BSF DIG Mohd Aquil said that two Kissan Guards of the BSF on Wednesday noticed the suspicious movement of a person inside Indian Territory who was later found hiding beneath a bush. An Indian currency note of Rs 10 and a chemistry book was recovered from his possession. The DIG said they had still to ascertain which terrorist group Arshad belonged to. "He is young and hard to crack," the DIG told reporters, adding that from the kind of language and specific words used by him, he could be from the Lashkar-e-Taiba or from Teherik-a-Taliban in Pakistan.

Sustained interrogation of the arrested teenager identified as Nauman Arshad, 18, revealed he was dropped near the India-Pakistan international border by a Pakistan-based jihadi group to carry out a recce of the border area and to gather information on the movement of the BSF along the border fence to facilitate infiltration of the seven suicide bombers to carry out disruptive activities in India. The DIG said that Arshad, a student of Comprehensive School in Gujjarpura, Lahore had undergone four-day training at a terrorist camp in Peshawar in June 2009. He was trained in the use of weapons and explosives and given information on suicide missions.