No terrorist training in Sri Lanka, Defence Secretary says

Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has strongly rejected the reports that Islamic militant groups operating from Pakistan have received terrorist training in Sri Lanka.

Defence Secretary yesterday had stressed that Sri Lanka is free from terrorists and there is no ground for terrorists to receive training in the country, the Ministry of Defence web site reported.
An Indian media report on Thursday said that investigators probing the February blast of a German Bakery in Pune in India have found that the mastermind of the operation, 29-year-old Mirza Himayat Baig has received training in bomb-making in Colombo. The attack killed 17 people, nine of them instantly.
The investigators have said that Baig was given the training to assemble the bombs and trigger them in Colombo.
The other suspect, 27-year-old Sheikh Lalbaba Mohammed Hussain Farid has claimed that he was trained in Pakistan,
Defence Secretary vehemently denied the investigators' report that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) member Baig, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad, received training in Colombo.
Rajapaksa has insisted that no terrorist group is operating in Sri Lanka after LTTE terrorism was swept out of the country, the Ministry said.
Sri Lanka's Ministry of External Affairs meanwhile through the Defence Attach' of the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi has sought a detailed report from Indian defence authorities on the alleged confessions made by the LeT suspect.