The interrogation of the two arrested Indian Mujahideen operatives, who fired gunshots at the Taiwanese tourists and planted a bomb in a stolen car at Jama Masjid before the Commonwealth Games, has revealed that they had initially
planned to carry out a strike in Paharganj area which is frequented by a large number of foreign tourists, but were forced to change their target.
Police sources said it was more than a month before the September 19 attack on Taiwanese tourists that Muhammad Adhil and Muhammad Qateel, who are now in the custody of the special cell, planned to carry out a strike in the Paharganj after reconnoitring the area.
“These two operatives had selected Paharganj area as part of IM’s planned strategy to target tourists in the city ahead of the Commonwealth Games 2010 here to create fear among the visiting delegates and athletes of the participating countries and to tarnish India’s image globally,” a top special cell officer said.
Heavily-armed and carrying sophisticated devices, the sources said, Adhil and Qateel took positions next to a hotel in Paharganj and were loading their guns when the automatic pistol of Qateel went off accidentally and the bullet hit Qateel in his right hand.
Interestingly, the firing incident didn’t evoke any response from the local police and the two operatives managed to escape from the area. “It is not clear where he got treatment for the bullet injury but he must have been to a hospital to treat such an injury,” the official said.
An internal inquiry has also been reportedly launched to establish whether any lapses had occurred due to the overlook made by the police in investigating the Paharganj shooting incident and to see whether the consequent Jama Masjid firing incident could have been prevented.