2 Linked to Bin Laden Held in India Bomb Plot

A Sudanese man suspected of working for Islamic militant Osama bin Laden was arrested along with an Indian accomplice for allegedly planning to blow up the U.S. Embassy in India, domestic news agencies reported Saturday.

Abdil Rauf Hawas of Sudan was arrested Friday in a residential neighborhood of New Delhi, where authorities recovered 13 pounds of an explosive known as RDX and some improvised bomb devices, the United News of India said, quoting a senior official of Delhi Police’s Special Cell, which investigates serious crimes.

Interrogation of Hawas and his suspected accomplice, Shamim Sarvar, who was also arrested, revealed that they were planning to blow up the U.S. Embassy in July, the news agency said, quoting Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Chand.

New Delhi police refused to confirm or deny the report, and a message left at the U.S. Embassy was not immediately returned.

The plan was hatched two years ago on the instructions of Bin Laden, who, through his contacts, asked Hawas to set up base in India and recruit others to help in the operation, Chand told the news agency.

Sarvar then made several reconnaissance trips to the U.S. Embassy, posing as a student.

The suspects and others planned to park a car bomb close to the visa section of the embassy, which was considered the most vulnerable part of the high-security building, Chand said, according to the news agency.

Bin Laden has been accused of masterminding the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people. He is believed to be living under the protection of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.