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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = 2002 attack on American cultural centre in Kolkata
| image = India West Bengal locator map.svg
| caption = Location of West Bengal in India
| location = [[Kolkata]], [[Kolkata district]], [[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| date = 22 January 2002
| fatalities = 5
| injuries = 20
}}
{{Terrorist attacks in India (since 2001)}}

Four police constables and a private security guard were killed and 20 other people injured when, on 22 January 2002, [[Terrorist|Islamic]] militants attacked an American cultural centre in [[Kolkata]], [[India]]. The centre houses a library, the American embassy's public affairs office, a press section and a cultural wing.<ref name=tel>{{cite news|last=Bedi |first=Rahul |last2=Fairweather |first2=Jack |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/1382452/Gunmen-kill-five-in-attack-on-American-offices.html |title=Gunmen kill five in attack on American offices |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=2002-01-23 |accessdate=2013-07-27}}</ref>

Two motorcycle-borne attackers, draped in shawls, sped up to the American Centre building at about 6:15 [[Indian Standard Time|IST]], refusing to stop at checkpoints and began shooting at police guards from an AK-47 assault rifle who returned fire.<ref name=bbc>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1774483.stm |title=Gunmen attack US centre in Calcutta |work=[[BBC News Online|BBC News]] |date=2002-01-22 |accessdate=2013-07-27}}</ref> Four of the dead were Kolkata police constables while the one of the dead belonged to a private security agency Group Four.<ref name=bbc /> The constables killed in the attack were identified as Pijush Sarker, Ujjal Burman, Suresh Hembram and Anup Mondal and belonged to the 5th battalion of [[State Armed Police Forces#Kolkata Armed Police|Kolkata Armed Police]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020123/main1.htm |title=US Information Center in Kolkata attacked - Five killed; Pakistan denies involvement|work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |date=2002-01-23 |accessdate=2013-07-27}}</ref>

Two groups claimed responsibility for the attack. A [[Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami]] (HUJI) member, Farhan Malik<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dubai-based-mafia-don-claims-responsibility/articleshow/342475053.cms |title=Dubai-based mafia don claims responsibility |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=2002-01-22 |accessdate=2019-10-25}}</ref> owned responsibility and said the attack was in protest against "the evil empire of America", while another person claiming to be a member of Asif Raza Commandos, a gang with ties to radical Islamic groups, claimed responsibility.<ref name=bbc /> Malik was also wanted in connection with a case of kidnapping a Kolkata shoe baron Partha Pratim Roy Barman, who was later released on a ransom of {{INR}}37.5 million.<ref name=rediff /><ref name=tel />

Four days after the attack, two men — Salim and Zahid — were killed in an encounter with a Delhi police team in Hazaribagh in [[Jharkhand]]. The police had come to know about the involvement of Aftab Ansari in the American Centre attack from the dying declarations of Salim and Zahid.<ref name=dh>{{cite news |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/71540/sc-suspends-death-sentence-aftab.html |title=SC suspends death sentence of Aftab Ansari |work=[[Deccan Herald]] |date=2010-05-25 |accessdate=2013-07-27}}</ref>

On 23 January 2002, Aftab Ansari alias Farhan Malik,<ref name=rediff>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jan/24usis1.htm |title=India to seek Ansari's extradition from UAE |publisher=[[Rediff.com]] |date=2002-01-24 |accessdate=2013-07-27}}</ref> prime suspect in the attack was arrested in [[Dubai]]. On 9 February 2002, he was deported to India. Ansari was in possession of Pakistani travel documents with his passport number J872142, being issued in Lahore in February, 2000, in the name of Shafiq Mohammad Rana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020210/main1.htm |title=Ansari held in UAE, brought to Delhi |work=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Tribune]] |date=2002-02-10 |accessdate=2013-07-27}}</ref>

On 28 April 2005, a Special CBI Court found Aftab Ansari and six others guilty for the attack.<ref name =h>{{cite web|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/28/stories/2005042806951200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050428030126/http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/28/stories/2005042806951200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2005-04-28 |work=[[The Hindu]] |title=Front Page : Aftab Ansari, 6 others sentenced to death |date=2005-04-28 |accessdate=2013-07-27}}</ref> Aftab Ansari and Jamiluddin Nasir were sentenced to death<ref name=dh /> under Section 121 of the [[Indian Penal Code]] for waging war against the state. The others sentenced along with Ansari are: Rehan Alam, Musharat Hussain, Adil Hasan, Hasrat Alam and Shakir Akhtar.<ref name =h/>

On 5 February 2010, the [[Calcutta High Court]] upheld the death sentence of Aftab Ansari and Jamiluddin Nasir but commuted the capital punishment awarded to three others to seven years imprisonment.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/calcutta-high-court-upholds-aftab-ansari-s-death-sentence-15876 |title=Calcutta High Court upholds Aftab Ansari's death sentence |work=[[NDTV India]] |date=2010-02-05 |accessdate=2013-07-27 |archive-url=http://www.ndtv.com/cities/calcutta-high-court-upholds-aftab-ansaris-death-sentence-410409 |archive-date=2016-03-06}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Sajal Barui]]
* [[Bowbazaar Bomb Blast 1993]]
* [[List of terrorist incidents, 2002]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.frontline.in/navigation/?type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl1904/19040220.htm The arrest of Aftab Ansari]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130708023028/http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Kolkata/Death-row-convict-Aftab-Ansari-exposes-spread-of-Dawood-tentacles/Article1-1087714.aspx Aftab Ansari exposes spread of Dawood tentacles]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:American cultural centre attack}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=21st-century mass murder in India, Attacks in 2002, Mass murder in 2002, Crime in Kolkata, 2000s in West Bengal, Attacks on diplomatic missions in India
|description=
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[[Category:21st-century mass murder in India]]
[[Category:Attacks in 2002]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 2002]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in India in 2002|American cultural centre in Kolkata, 2002 terrorist attack]]
[[Category:2000s in Kolkata|American cultural centre in Kolkata, 2002 terrorist attack]]
[[Category:Crime in Kolkata]]
[[Category:2000s in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Attacks on diplomatic missions in India]]

2002 attack on American cultural centre in Kolkata - Revision history

MetaBOT at 16:26, 8 July 2023