Bombay police arrest three Kashmiri militants

Bombay police arrested three armed men believed to be Kashmiri militants and seized a large weapons cache, Indian police said Friday. The three men are members of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, said Bombay police chief A. N. Roy.

Lashkar is the most feared of more than a dozen rebel groups that have been fighting since 1989 to wrest largely Muslim Kashmir state from predominantly Hindu India. Roy said the men were caught with bomb-making equipment, including a remote-control device, five timer switches and 20 detonators.

The men were arrested by the police Anti-Terrorist Squad after receiving a tip from an intelligence agency, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting a source in the unit.

Lashkar was widely believed to have been behind the serial blasts in New Delhi last year and a shooting attack in India's high-tech hub, Bangalore, last week. Media reports said the men were planning to carry out an attack in Bombay on Jan. 26, India's Republic Day.

However, Roy said they had not yet started planning an attack. "They came to spread their network here, that seemed to be their aim. They had not yet begun any operation here," Roy told reporters at a news conference. Bombay, also known as Mumbai, is India's financial and entertainment capital, reports the AP. I.L.