Kashmir police claim they arrested al-Qaida suspect

Police say they have arrested a Pakistani Kashmiri who they said claimed to be a member of al-Qaida and had confessed plans to attack public buildings and Hindu temples.

Officers at the police control room in Jammu, says Ayub Ahmad, who also used the name Ayubi, had been arrested on Sunday and had confessed under interrogation.

The control room officers said that Ahmad was from Kotli, in the Pakistan controlled portion of Kashmir.

The police said Ahmad had confessed under interrogation that he planned to attack Hindu temples, the building where the state's civil functions are carried out, and a hostel where legislators live when the state assembly is meeting Jammu.

Confessions to police are inadmissible in court cases in India, and must be repeated voluntarily before a judge because of the many instances of forced confessions.

Police in Bombay announced last month that an Indian man, Mohammed Afroz, had confessed under interrogation that he was a member of al-Qaida, the militant network headed by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden.

Police said Afroz had confessed to being part of an al-Qaida plan to hijack a plane and crash it into the British Parliament and had told of plans to attack buildings in Australia and New Delhi.

Police produced Afroz in court last week in Bombay, and he said he wanted to make a confession, although his father had filed a petition saying Afroz had been tortured.

A judge heard the confession in a closed courtroom later and banned the statement from being made public.