When terrorists attacked Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi site in Ayodhya
A witness said that the terrorists offered prayer as pilgrims before launching the terror attack.
Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6 in 1992 following a call for kar seva (voluntary service) given by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and supported and participated by then top BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and others. The three were later chargesheeted in the case, which is pending in a UP court.
Thirteen years after Babri Masjid was demolished, the disputed site was attacked by terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. The terror attack in Ayodhya took place on July 5 in 2005.
The terrorists were six in number. They had entered India through Nepal. They posed as devotees of Lord Ram as they headed towards Ayodhya. They pretended to be on a pilgrimage to Ayodhya, believed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram.
The terrorists reached Faizabad -- the Uttar Pradesh district that has been recently renamed as Ayodhya -- in a Tata Sumo, an SUV that they boarded at Akbarpur. Before rechristening of the district, Ayodhya formed a part of Faizabad. Akbarpur is small town in the Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh and best known as the birthplace of Ram Manohar Lohia, the famous socialist leader.
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As the terrorists reached Faizabad, they changed vehicles, whose driver - Rehan Alam Ansari - became a key witness in the case.
Rehan Alam Ansari later told the investigators that the terrorists visited the makeshift Ram temple in Ayodhya The makeshift temple had come up at the site the day Babri Masjid was demolished 13 years ago. Ansari said that the terrorists offered prayers to give an impression that they were pilgrims.
The armed terrorists then forced the driver out of the SUV and drove it towards the security cordon near Sita Rasoi inside the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi complex.
Ansari was forced to get off the vehicle with five terrorists while the sixth terrorist drove towards the site and blew himself up at the first barricade, a little past 9 in the morning.
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Other five gunmen ran towards Sita Rasoi hurling grenades and firing from their automatic rifles. Ramesh Pandey, a pilgrim, died in the terror attack.
The Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) of UP and the CRPF deployed near the Sita Rasoi swung into action quickly. A gun-battle ensued and in a 90-minute operation all the five terrorists were gunned down.
The encounter took place barely 70 metres from the Sita Rasoi. After the operation was over, the security personnel found out that one of the terrorists had explosives strapped around his body. The terror attack at the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi was ultimately averted.
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