Three blasts rocked Mumbai's crowded Zaveri Bazar, Opera House and Dadar Kabootarkhana areas on Wednesday evening, killing 10 and injuring at least 100 people.
Two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives, who provided vehicles used in 2008 serial blasts in Gujarat that killed 56 and wounded over 200, have been arrested by Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa finds out why over a month after the blast near the Delhi High Court, investigators have not yet been able to pinpoint the terror outfit that carried out the operation.
Vicky Nanjappa takes a look at the series of the blasts over the past one-and-a-half years, and observes investigators overlooked many a lead, and the task ahead for them, is a tough one indeed.
In the past one and half years, the nation has witnessed three attacks --Varanasi, 13/7 and the Delhi high court blasts. For quite sometime now, the investigators have been clueless about the attackers and now, leads are trickling in. Investigators are closing in on Bullet 313, a group within the Indian Mujahideen which could have carried these attacks. Vivky Nanjappa reports.
A senior Congress leader on Sunday sparked a fresh row saying Gujarat riots had led to creation of terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, evoking a sharp reaction from Bharatiya Janata Party which accused his party of playing the communal card for vote bank politics.
This was just one of the mails that was sent out by the Indian Mujahideen prior to the deadly blasts in Ahmedabad in 2008 which killed 56 people, injuring 200 others.
Desperate for a breakthrough in the July 13 triple blasts, the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad is now looking to question two recently-arrested alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives.
As investigators try to piece the Delhi high court blast jigsaw questions still remains unanswered: Who planted the explosive and the motive behind the blast? Those involved in the probe say everyone's a suspect -- the Indian Mujahideen, the Students Islamic Movement of India, the Harkat-ul-Jihadi -- and the role of each of this outfit is being probed.
A switch which is believed to have been used to trigger the briefcase bomb outside the Delhi high court was found on Saturday. But a breakthrough in the probe still eluded investigators three days after the deadly explosion. As investigators struggled to find conclusive leads in the blast case, they are now looking into the possibility of whether Indian Mujahideen operatives were helped by some other groups in carrying out the attack, which left 13 dead and 88 injured.
It has been reported that three claims of responsibility have been received by the investigating authorities in the wake of the explosion outside the Delhi high court on Wednesday.
One person was detained in Uttar Pradesh on Friday in connection with the low-intensity explosion outside the Delhi high court. Investigators, however, said they were yet to make any concrete breakthrough in the case.
Samajwadi Party today sacked Kamal Farooqi as its Secretary in the wake of his controversial remarks that Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was arrested as he was a Muslim.
Officials lament the lack of proper legislation in the country vis-a-vis such chemicals.
An advisory issued by the American Embassy warned its citizens of an increased threat in places frequented by Westerners in the country.
The Indian Mujahideen which keeps raising its head once in a way to cause a ruckus in the country has been operating in a very interesting manner of late.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said that post 26/11 attacks, there have been just two terror strikes in India -- Pune and Mumbai.
Investigations into 13/7 Mumbai serial blasts case has revealed that there have been no cell phone records and no intercepts from Pakistan.
Four days after serial blasts rocked Mumbai and claimed 19 lives, security agencies and police teams probing the terror strike are yet to find any leads in the case. Several people have been detained across the country for questioning, but no arrests have been made.
In an offensive against cadres of Indian Mujahideen, the government has formed special teams to locate 31 most wanted men of the banned outfit, whose list has been circulated to all states and union territories.
Some of the Indian Mujahideen members who carried out the Mumbai serial blasts may have fled to Kolkata, believe investigators. The police are now closely examining passengers who have traveled to Maharashtra from Kolkata in the last ten days. "We are still looking for leads. The Kolkata police have been informed about the latest development. The Kolkata special task force, which is assisting in this probe, has indicated that some members of the IM had gone off their radar."
Indian investigators are looking into a relatively new terror module known as the Bullet 313 brigade. It is evident that the name of the outfit has been inspired by the Ilyas Kashmiri led 313 brigade of the Al Qaeda. Indian Mujahideen, the terror outfit suspected to be behind the Mumbai serial blasts, was formed four years ago. Investigators initially suspected that it was an offshoot of the Students Islamic Movement of India, which was merely using a new name.
Investigators continue to remain tight-lipped about which terror outfit was responsible for the serial blasts that claimed 18 lives in Mumbai on Wednesday night. But sources claim that vital clues about the involvement of a sleeper cell of the Indian Mujahideen have emerged in the course of the probe."We need to take into consideration all aspects about this case and the clues are leading to the role played by the IM and some members of the SIMI.
'Look at the selection of targets and also the timing of the attacks. It is clearly designed to cause maximum damage. The target was not a particular facility which was aimed at hurting the economy," says former R&AW chief C D Sahay.
While the local police teams will concentrate on maintaining law and order, special Crime Branch, ATS and NIA teams will work on leads gathered through the interrogation of scores of Indian Mujahideen operatives lodged in various jails across Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. As many as 66 alleged IM operatives are lodged in Gujarat's Sabarmati jail alone.
Following the serial blasts in Mumbai on Wednesday, the six other cities which have been identified as potential targets of the Indian Mujahideen are Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Bangalore and Goa.
Intelligence Bureau officials are not ruling out the role of Lashkar-e-Tayiba behind the attack. Sources in the Intelligence Bureau said that while this blast bears the signature of the Indian Mujahideen, they could have very well got the help of the Lashkar to execute this attack.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that 7 IEDs were used and the explosive device was wrapped in cloth bags and tiffin carriers. This bears the signature of the Indian Mujahideen, a member of the NIA who is also investigating the case says.
'This is for the first time that a strong, solid evidence-based investigation has happened.' 'It can meet international standards and put the onus on the Pakistanis.'
A Delhi court on Saturday decided to frame charges against 13 suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists involved in plotting serial blasts in the national capital which claimed 26 lives on September 13, 2008.
Strategic expert B Raman examines the possible threats to the Commonwealth Games and how the various security agencies can tackle them.
Riyaz Bhatkal's story was very similar to that of Shahid Bilal, who belonged to the Harkat-ul-Jihade Islami. Bilal wanted for his role in the deadly twin blasts in Hyderabad. Both Bhatkal and Bilal were products of the Inter-Services Intelligence's drive to setup a terror module in south India.
Investigation agencies have launched a hunt for a man who received a call from Mumbai, minutes before the December 7 Varanasi blast, which left two dead and 30 injured.
A day after terror outfit Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the Varanasi blast, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal on Wednesday said handlers of the outlawed organisation are in Pakistan and are running the 'game' from there.Asked who the main players were, the commissioner replied, "Definitely Bhatkal brothers."
Security agencies are probing the use of ammonium nitrate used in the bomb that rocked Varanasi on Tuesday evening, killing one infant and injuring 32 others, including foreigners.
Police on Sunday said that the anonymous phone call from Yemen claiming that Indian Mujahideen was behind the murder of crime reporter J Dey, could to be hoax.
Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar charged Ahmed, alias Pappu, for the offences of murder (Section 302) and attempt to murder (Section 307) of the Indian Penal Code, besides other penal offences for his role in the encounter.
Shahzad, arrested from Azamgarh district by Uttar Pradesh by Anti-Terror Squad on February 1, was remanded to judicial custody till March 4 by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja as police did not seek his further custodial interrogation.
Samajwadi Party on Tuesday said that Kamal Farooqi has been expelled from the party and asked TV channels not to use the party's name while inviting him for debates.
It has been nearly a week since gangster Chota Rajan made a claim that his men had shot down the notorious terror suspect and Indian Mujahideen founder Riyaz Bhatkal in Karachi. The moment this claim was made, Indian agencies wrote to Pakistan seeking details regarding his 'death,' but till date there has been no confirmation from that end.
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